Dream To Me
by Emvee
Summary: “Hey, Malone!” I heard him call and wearily spun around. “Try not to dream about me tonight, yeah? That might be a bit embarrassing”. I snorted and continued on my way, trying not to smile SBOC, LJ.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First off, I don't own any characters that appear in this chapter besides Billee Malone, Mendara Chang and Gidget. All of the others belong rightly to JK Rowling. The title is taken from the song Dreaming which belongs to The Cranberries. The song used at the beginning of the chapter is not mine, it's Gavin DeGraw's.

Now that that's over with, my name is Em. I know there are a lot of half finished SiriusOC fics but I'd like to take a wack at my own. My OC character Billee is a bit wacky, but if you feel she's mary-sue-ish, please let me know. I'd hate for that to happen. So please review and tell me if you like it or even if you just think it's rubbish. Thanks.

_Oh, this is the start of something good_

_Don't you agree? _

_-_ Follow Through - Gavin DeGraw

**Dream To Me**

I opened one eye and then promptly closed it. Any sense of duty I felt towards getting up was instantly diminished at seeing the sunlight streaming through the window.

"So then I was like, I know you are not insulting my outfit" Gidget the Idiot was bloody at it again. I heard Mendara groan from the next bed over. "Like, I know I can take a lot but honestly, I had walked all the way to Madame Puddifoots by myself AND my new platforms were giving me the absolute worst blisters"

"Oh god forbid" I heard Mendara mutter, before the tell-tale spring of bed springs announced she had given up on sleeping in. So fine, I was the only one in bed. I know my Dormies thought I was a lazy git, but well… okay I was.

"Get up you lazy arse" Mendara chanted, spanking my bottom, which caused me to make a guttural animalistic noise and crawl further under my starchy sheets.

Okay, so they didn't beat around the bush much. Sixteen year old girls weren't hard to read anyways.

"Dara, don't worry. You go shower. I'll get her up" Lily Evans said eagerly. Yeah I'm sure she would just so she can get away from one of Gidget's brain cell massacre chats. Whenever I get stuck in one, I can actually feel my I.Q dropping and then afterwards feel the strong need to tell Peter Pettigrew how much I respect his outlook on life. Just fooling, I'm not that far gone yet.

"Billee" Lily said bouncing on my bed and I snuck a look at her, her auburn hair was combed out and shiny, and she was already dressed in her robes "Get up, Missy" she said reaching over and shaking me. "Alright I'm up, I'm up" I grumbled, pushing myself into a sitting position, using my bony elbows. "I'm glad you're here Lils, because I really wanted to talk to someone about something" I said, seriously.

Lily looked taken aback, and I knew why. I wasn't normally one for somber conversations. "Evans, er I mean Lily" I said using my "macho" voice and I instantly saw her eyes glaze over. "Go out with me" I added, using the right level of smarminess and earnest that made me the best James Potter impersonator in all of Gryffindor Tower.

"Slapper" Lily muttered darkly and I grinned, climbing wearily out of bed. "Talk about starting a day off horribly" she continued, bouncing half-heartedly on my bed and looked on as I obnoxiously ran my hand through my hair about seven times.

"Oh come on now" I said brusquely, picking up a pair of jeans and a passable t-shit off the floor and a brush from the top of my ancient trunk. "Potter's a tit, but he's alright, yeah?" I said to Lily.

"Well you can go out with him then" she said snappishly.

"Ooh, testy" I said and flopped down next to her. "Could be worse" I said with an air of nonchalance. "It could be Pettigrew" Lily glanced at me with a look of disdain. "You and him making out in a broom cupboard, his pudgy little hands resting on your arse, he smells like burned cheese and then-"

"Okay Billee, that's enough" she said, looking a little green around the gills.

Mendara stepped out from the bathroom, her hair combed and not a strand out of place, looking like a babe as per usual. "Bathroom's all yours," she said to me, and then took my place next to Lily as I sashayed into the loo.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and took in the basics. I was a blonde, which I had always resented. For a long time I wished I was a snappy red head but I guess it was okay being a blonde. I quite liked squashing stereotypes, although Gidget my fellow blonde likes to fuel them. I had wide blue-grey eyes, which were okay I guess. I had a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of my nose and an unnaturally wide mouth, I sighed, pursing my lips but that only made it look worse.

The nail in the coffin was my height. I stood at a measly 5'1, which spurred on the nickname Little Billee Malone, which made me sound more like a loveable, ragamuffin down and out boxer rather than who I was, a sixteen year old witch who had a hard time shutting her mouth, liked licorice wands and absolutely hated pixies (I'm not even going to go there).

I reached for my trusty Noxzema (Muggle born and bred) and started to spread it on my face; I got a little ball of it up my nose and then had to pick it out with a tissue, which burned. I cursed Mendara for having her beautiful complexion that caused me to try and compete with her. Mendara was beautiful, there was no denying it. Her dad was Asian and her mum English, so she had creamy skin, auburn-brownish hair (She dyes it, ha!) and warm brown eyes. And she's tall, standing at 5'7. Wanker.

We'd been mates since first year. We aligned together probably out of necessity, Gidget our Dormie is a total dunderhead, no joke. And Lily's a sweetheart but she spends most of her time with Ravenclaws and Dara and I just are a little more layed back. But we don't try and be the rebel girls either, like the ones in fifth year with the awful black nails and try and rival the Marauders, which is sort of pathetic actually, since they'll never come close.

The Marauders are a group of hunky boys who are actually six year old boys on the inside, don't you let the chiseled muscles and bulging biceps fool you. They are very sophisticated Manboys.

James Potter is sexy, sexy, and sexy. A bit of an arrogant tit, yes, but oh I'd jump him like that if Lily wasn't so in love with him. And he'd chop off Pettigrew's cock if she'd quit playing hard to get. Lily can fool a lot of people with her "I hate him" act but I know her pretty well by now. And besides 'hard to get' is the oldest trick in the book. Anyways, James Potter is Quidditch captain, has tousled brown hair that I'd love to run my fingers through, sensitive hazel eyes and he's all lean and long. Lily must have so much sexual frustration built up in her, because I've got enough stored just by watching one of their exchanges.

I lusted after another Marauder all through fourth year. Remus Lupin is tall and smart and a total sweetheart, which is everything on my list, almost. I tried to seduce him everyday for nearly a year; before coming to the conclusion that he was either gay or I was just an unattractive wench. It's come out that it's the latter because he always pays particular attention to Mendara's arse.

Sirius Black is another hottie. He's got better hair then me, I've always meant to ask him what conditioner he uses, but he kind of intimidates me. He's got these huge shoulders and is even taller then James, so he's probably about a foot taller than me. Plus he's a total playboy and will flirt with just about anything with boobs, although he's never tried anything with me but that's probably because I'm not his type. Yeah, I've got an IQ greater than 4. Right now he's got a love/hate relationship with Gidget, he loves her boobs but he hates it when she talks. Still, even though he seems to be a bit of a wanker, he's got gorgeous shiny black hair that falls into his bright blue eyes, pouty lips and a chiseled jaw line.

Peter Pettigrew is kind of like the afterthought of the group. He's got thin blonde hair, rosy cheeks and innocent looking big blue eyes. He's a bit chubby and dreadfully dumb. Mendara once confessed to me that she often wondered who would win in a battle of the wits Peter or Gidget.

I sighed, as I rinsed off my face before patting it dry with a towel, and started to comb out my sleep tousled hair. I had a feeling deep down in my gut that today was going to be a long day.

My earlier premonition had been correct. Trying to sleep in was never a good idea, seeing as I always nearly missed breakfast. So instead of eating my breakfast at a leisurely pace while reading the Daily Prophet, I instead chugged down a glass of pumpkin juice and shoved a piece of dry bread down my throat, then took a coughing fit. I ran to Potions and I was still late. I was docked five points, because I'm not Slughorn's pet like Lily is. Classes continued on dreadfully.

I got up in front of the class in Charms to demonstrate the enlargement spell and promptly forgot the wand movements. I stood there for a good five minutes poking the air repeating the spell over and over before Flitwick gently suggested I sit back down and try again later. The class was roaring with laughter.

And we had Stew for lunch which I hate. So it was no surprise that I was absolutely dreading going to fecking Divination. Usually I find it a good laugh but today I was cranky and starving but Lily shares the class with me so at least I knew I'd have a comrade. Mendara proclaims that it's too "wishy-washy crap" for her, so Lily's my only close friend in the class.

Lily smiled brightly at me, looking relieved. I knew the reason as soon as I lay eyes on James Potter, sitting on the pouf next to Lily's. Sirius Black was next to him and I can tell James had been flirting aggressively with her. I took my seat on the other side of Lily and she immediately started chattering on, ignoring Potter. She was ranting on again about her awful horseface sister and the bloke she was engaged to. She was putting all her energy into ignoring James who was staring at her lustfully and eavesdropping into our conversation.

"So then the fat pig said to me-"Lily abruptly stopped noticing my gaze was locked firmly on Potter next to her, who was miming me in Charms class and Sirius was busting a gut. He was jabbing the air with his index finger and stuttering over the incantation. I glanced back at Lily and saw she was growing an alarming shade of red, her slender eyebrows furrowed into a tight line, her mouth was open, probably to blow up at him again. "Lily, don't even think about it" I warned.

"I'm just fooling, Malone" James said with a grin, and one of his big hands reached around Lily and gently pushed me on the shoulder, although even though he meant it as a friendly gesture, since I was so small I still nearly toppled over. "Oh Little Billee Malone, you make me laugh" James said with a grin.

"Oh Big-Headed James Potter, you make me want to jump off the Astronomy Tower" I shot back as Professor Littleton walked in. She was a fair woman, who wore her graying black girls piled on top of her head, usually with some barrette sticking out haphazardly. Today a pink flamingo wearing a bowler hat was her hair accessory of choice.

Sirius gave a bark of laughter at my insult at James and I looked at him wearily. He grinned at me and then cheekily winked before turning his head towards Littleton.

"Today my lovelies" she began dramatically "We will be exploring the world of which we know very little". I glanced at Lily who was trying not to laugh. "Should be good" I whispered and Lily gave a little snort of laughter but covered it up with a chaste cough. James looked on at her in wonder.

"In dreamland one's true feelings are revealed and studying them can help us understand our greater core" Littleton continued sweeping her hands grandly as she talked. "Dreamland" Lily mouthed to me and I chewed on the corner of my lip to keep from giggling.

"So over the next month or so, we will be doing group work" Lily and I automatically had the girl-group-work reaction and clasped hands. James tried to follow suit and grab Lily's other hand but she shook her hand away angrily.

"I want you to work with people in your own house and record all of your dreams in the book I'm passing around" Littleton said dropping a lavender spiral note pad on the floor next to Lily. "And discuss the dreams with the people in your group". James gave Lily a triumphant grin and she heaved a dramatic sigh. We were the only four Gryffindor's in the class. The majority of the class was Hufflepuff, so it just left us.

"So last night" James began and I grinned, I had a feeling what was coming next. "I had a dream, that I was in the hospital wing and Evans here strolled on in, in this little white dress and said "I'm Nurse Lily. How may I service you?" I glanced over at Lily and saw she was blushing furiously and Sirius was wearing a smirk. "Well Evans, aren't you going to write that down?" James asked with a grin, leaning in closer to Lily. "Or would you like to discuss it with us, Evans?" Sirius piped in.

Feeling some sense of duty towards Lily I went ahead and opened my big, fat mouth. "I'd like to discuss it, boys" I felt James and Sirius look at me in surprise. "Did you have a nice big wank after that dream, James?" I asked sweetly. Sirius gave a sharp bark of laughter as James turned the same shade of red as Lily.

"Oh my god" Lily said snapping her eyes shut, "I'm not here, I am on a beach in Italy" Lily continued calmly, her blush starting to fade. "Yeah and then James rides by on a gondola" Sirius said with a grin and Lily's eyes shot open. "No. No James" she said forcefully. "Are you topless?" James asked sulkily, and Lily promptly whacked him forcefully on the arm. "To be fair Lily, most of the beaches in Italy are nudity-friendly" I said knowledgably. "Billee" Lily said, gritting her teeth "You are not helping". "It's just that I went there last summer and wh-"I started but then got interrupted by Sirius "Were you nude?" he asked with an interested grin. I went to open my mouth, some witty, biting remark perched on my tongue, but I saw Lily heave a sigh and decided to just keep my mouth shut.

Lily and I worked together for the last fifteen minutes of class, as I wrote down her dream about stealing her Aunt Sophie's pick up truck and getting pulled over by a cop after running over an ant eater. James and Sirius however just continued to make sexual innuendos the entire time.

I had a feeling that this was not going to be the most productive group.

It was after dinner, and I was taking my nightly stroll. Even though it was only the middle of September, a chill had descended early on Hogwarts and I was dressed in my wool coat and pink bobble hat my Nan had knitted for me two winters ago. Lily had asked me to do her a favor and here I was freezing my tits off, looking for two arseholes instead of gossiping with Mendara in the lovely, warm common room.

I spotted two figures hunched over on the brick ledge, further down the grounds, and I hurried over there, the sun was just sinking in the sky and it was almost curfew so I'd have to rush.

When I reached the two of them, I saw that they were smoking muggle cigarettes and Sirius had been talking about someone's boobs but abruptly stopped once I made my presence known. "James" I said nodding at him, "Sirius" I added, doing the same.

"Beautiful" Sirius said in the same no nonsense voice I had used and I rolled my eyes. "Nice hat, Little Billee Malone" James said with a roguish grin and reached over to tug on one of the braids that hung from the ear flaps. I slapped his hand away, narrowing my eyes. "Ooh, Kitty likes to scratch" Sirius said attempting to do the same as James but I jerked my head back.

"Anyways" I said, feeling the need to move the conversation along. "James, Lily wanted me to convey to you that she is extremely pissed off and humiliated and would like to chop your balls off with a rusty axe" I said brusquely, digging my hands into my pockets, to try and get some feeling back into my fingers. The two boys stared at me, James' mouth agape and Sirius looked like he was going to be sick. "So my suggestion would be to go and apologize" I said and was met with more silence "Right now" I added for good measure.

James launched himself off the ledge and started to sprint up the hill towards and castle, I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him go. "Wait for me mate" Sirius called sarcastically. I lifted myself up onto the ledge and gazed longingly at his cigarette. "Got a spare fag?" I asked hopefully. "Nope, Peter's inside" He said teasingly. I snorted, plucking the cigarette from his lips and bringing it to my own, taking in a deep drag before exhaling the smoke.

"I wouldn't have taken Little Billee Malone as a smoker" he said looking amused, as he watched her take another deep drag. "Don't call me that please" I bit out. Lord, I hated that nickname. So uncreative. "Yeah I know I'm little and my name is Billee Malone. People don't need to remind me, I'm not going to forget" I snapped irritably.

He just smiled before plucking my hat off of my head and putting it on his. "Oh come on, that's not fair" I whined and tried to snatch it back but he grabbed onto my hand, "A tit for a tat, Billee" He said motioning to his fag which was currently back in my mouth. My name sounded so good coming out of his mouth, and then suddenly I got that feeling in my stomach that you get when you're on the lift and it drops a few floors. Shite.

"Okay here" I said handing his cigarette over, reluctantly. He whipped the hat off and gently shoved it down over my ears and then gave one of the decorative braids a yank again. "Tosser" I muttered, as I worked my way off the ledge. He was laughing at me because I had to position myself quite strangely so that my short legs would touch the ground. I started to make my way up to the castle, pulling my wool coat tight against me.

"Hey, Malone!" I heard him call and wearily spun around. "Try not to dream about me tonight, yeah? That might be a bit embarrassing". I snorted and continued on my way, trying not to smile.


	2. Chapter 2

As always I own nothing assosicated with Harry Potter. That belongs to JK Rowling. I don't own any songs that appear in chapters. I do however own Billee Malone, Mendara Chang as well as Gidget the Eejit.

Thanks so much to my five whole reviewers! That was such a thrill, I didn't expect 5 reviewers, my goal was 3. I'm not going to be one of those writers who withholds a chapter until I have a certain number of reviews but they are appreciated and LOVED. So please if you like the chapter (or not) drop me a line. I hope you guys all like this chapter.

--

_But girls,  
They wanna have fu-un,  
Oh,girls,just wanna have  
That's all they really want...  
Some fun... (Cyndi Lauper- Girls just wanna have fun)_

_--_

I stifled a yawn, it was late on a Friday night, and I was spent. Even though it was only me and Mendara left in the Common Room, I was sprawled out on the floor, my charms essay spread out before me. Mendara had thrown herself in an armchair, her head propped up by one armrest, her legs dangling off the other one. "We never have any adventures anymore, Bill" she said wistfully, playing with a strand of her hair. "Whaddya mean?" I asked, managing to fight off another yawn.

"Remember when we used to sneak out in like fourth year" she asked with a wide smile. "Yeah, but that was when we had boyfriends" I said, laughing. I had dated Mendara's cousin Roger and she had gone out with Amos Diggory briefly that year. Both had been lanky and gangly, with voices that cracked frequently. "Man we had really low standards" Dara reminisced. "I remember Diggory told me I was gaining weight" "But that was okay because it was all going to your arse" I finished for her.

"Yeah, we're definitely better off" she said fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt. "I don't want a boyfriend, I just want a good snog" I said, heaving a sigh, proofreading my finished essay. "I hear ya, sister" Dara agreed.

I glanced up with a mischievous smile and sang, rather off-key mind you "Bow chicka wow wow" Mendara caught on quickly (Which was why I loved her) and said in a husky voice "You know we could always snog each other" unfortunately the portrait hole had swung open exactly a few seconds before she said her proposal.

"I have impeccable timing" James Potter said ruffling his hair with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Okay just take your tops off, and we're all set" Sirius Black joined in and Remus just looked embarrassed for both of our sakes.

"Oh we were just fooling, wankers" Mendara said rolling her eyes. "Besides" I spoke up, glancing at James "I thought you were saving yourself for Lily

James smiled "Maybe so, but I can still derive pleasure from a little girl on girl" Remus sat down in the Chair next to Dara and Sirius flopped down on the floor next to me, who I promptly scooted away from. "Yeah he also derives pleasure from the stack of nude mags under his bed" Remus muttered and Mendara and I cackled with glee.

This was what I dealt with all the time now. Only substitute Mendara for Lily, which was quite a difference. Usually I'd be the only one cackling with glee; Lily would sniff disapprovingly or close her eyes and take a deep breath, trying to regain some control. We'd been working on our project for four days and so far no dreams that revealed our inner thoughts, just a bunch of half remembered drivel from me and Lily and soft-core porn situations from James and Sirius.

"Well never fear girls, you won't have to make out with each other, the marauders are here!" Sirius cried, dramatically. "Alright" I said, as Sirius scooted closer to me again "But I get dibs on Remus" I called, glancing at Sirius as he fake pouted. "That's no fair, I wanted Remus" Mendara called, crossing her arms across her chest, while Remus turned a soft shade of pink.

Sirius exhaled a heavy breath and glanced at me; as I looked back arranging my features into a get of faux-innocent expression. "Come on I'm giving you an olive branch here" he said with a smirk. "I don't like olives" I said wrinkling my nose and blinking obliviously.

Mendara snorted with laughter standing up and heading towards the staircase. "You're not leaving me alone with them?" I asked incredulously, but she just yawned covering her mouth and climbing the stairs. "Correction" Remus said also standing up and James followed suit "We're leaving you alone with him" James jerked his head in Sirius' direction, who was lounging on the floor with his arms folded behind his head and a wide grin spread across his perfect lips.

"You planned this didn't you?" I asked with a smile, looking from his face to the flickering firelight before deciding to concentrate on proofreading my essay.

"Me?" he asked with an innocent flutter of his eyelashes, and I giggled, hating the way my laugh sounds in my ears. I sound like fecking Gidget.

"Stop flirting with me" I said sternly "You've got a girlfriend" I said raising my eyebrows and keeping my gaze firmly locked on my parchment.

"I do?" he asked sounding confused. I heaved a loud sigh. "You know blonde, big boobs, a total idiot" I said, refreshing his memory.

"Sounds like you just described yourself" he said with a smirk and shook some of his hair out of his eyes.

"Ha ha" I said sarcastically, as I noticed a splotch of ink on the corner of the page and swore under my breath. "I was thinking more of Gidget" I said, frowning, seeing as I put "lorge" instead of "large". I was so overtired and irritated. Who the fuck can't even spell large? Honestly. I started to furiously cross out the misspelled word, muttering curses under my breath.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa" Sirius exclaimed, sitting up and resting a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, let me look at that" he said taking my essay from me, his eyes scanning over my neatly written words. I was acutely aware his hand was still resting on my shoulder. I pulled a Lily and did what I often saw her do, close her eyes and take a deep breath. I still felt edgy and this was no help at all. Like since Lily is always more serene afterwards, I had assumed it must have worked, but I may as well did a headstand and sang "If Your Happy And You Know It" because I felt no shift out of a complete anxiety attack. Instead, I know I looked like a spazz, breathing heavily through my nose and my eyes darting around the room.

He did something with his wand to my essay before resting his wand behind his ear and turning to glance at me again. I met his eyes cautiously. He passed my essay over to me, and my eyes scanned down to find the infamous "Lorge" but instead it read large in a neat script, the ink splotch the corner was gone as well. "Alright Malone?" he asked with a smile. I nodded and managed a weak smile. "Sorry, I'm just worn out" I said rubbing my eyes, tiredly "I mean look at the bags under my eyes" I added as an afterthought.

"Hmm" he said leaning in, studying them, carefully. "Interesting, now would you classify those as lorge?" he asked, the corners of his mouth grinning.

"Shut up!" I said, grinning even though I knew he was teasing me. I stood up and brushed off the seat of my pajama bottoms in a rather un-lady-like fashion, which probably wasn't a good idea, since Sirius' eyes were now locked on my ass. I hated my butt; I would have preferred a slightly smaller one since I was so short. That and my sizeable boobs made me look not proportioned correctly. "I'm going to tuck in" I said, climbing the steps. I spun around, thinking about how rude I must seem. My Mummy raised me right, after all. "Hey, thanks by the way" I managed to stutter out, with only a minor level of awkwardness.

"Don't worry about it" He said with a knowing grin "But you didn't expect something for nothing did you?" he asked in a mock serious voice. "You have to be my love slave now" he called cheerily.

I rolled my eyes, so much for manners. But what had I been expecting honestly. My dormitory was dark. Lily was snoring softly. Mendara was still awake. I climbed into her bed for a moment, staying above the covers. She shifted her position so she was facing me. "Done shagging Sirius?" she whispered, I could barely make out the grin evident on her lips in the pitch dark. "Ha ha" I said, fighting off another yawn and stretching my arms up and over my head. "I'd think you guys would be cute" she whispered again and her bony elbow connected with my side.

I hopped off her bed, whipping off my top and changing into an oversized t-shirt. "Yeah, well you think I'd be cute with Flitwick" I said, Mendara was always telling me to get back out there. "You're both so tiny" She giggled, as I climbed under the covers. "Night Dara" I said, closing my eyes.

"Sweet Dreams" were the last words spoken and they hung in the quiet air, the words reverberated in my ears over and over until I found sleep.

--

Seriously, is there nothing better than sleeping in? I'm pretty sure there isn't. I opened my eyes, and closed them again leisurely. I could stay in bed for a few more hours. Not doing anything except bargaining with myself.

"WHO STOLE MY SODDING MONKEY SOCKS?" I heard Gidget bellow and my eyes snapped open. Maybe not. Gidget gets very temperamental about missing socks. And sometimes to mess with her, Dara and I (and Lily when she's feeling particularly adventurous) hide them around the dormitory. Once we even left her a ransom note.

"They're on your fucking trunk!" Mendara exclaimed from her own bed, where she was propped up with a text book and an annoyed expression on her face that I recognized. Lily walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. And Gidget promptly walked in, that was how it was with our bathroom. It was never unoccupied. "Billee" she said and plopped down on my bed. "Will you fix my hair?" she said motioning to her damp, mass of red hair. "Braids okay?" I asked as she turned around and I started brushing her hair out with just my fingers. "Yeah, French though".

Everyone has some talent that is purposeless, used only at slumber parties when everyone's gotten themselves in a rowdy mood. Lily can blow up a balloon with just her nose and Mendara can take off her bra using no hands. Me, I'm a champion French braider, along with other hidden gifts. Lily was chattering on nervously as I fixed her hair into two braids with capable hands. "What's got you all riled up, Madam Evans?" I asked, finishing one and reaching into a night table drawer for elastics.

"Okay, but I'm only telling you guys, yeah?" she said and I saw her wringing her hands, anxiously. "Yeah go on and spill it then" I ordered as I continued on. "Well yesterday James… I mean Potter… I mean James… Potter" she said weakly and I smiled as Mendara looked up from her textbook and let her jaw go slack, luckily Lily was too busy picking fuzzies from my bedspread to notice. "Well he held the door open for me and kind of smiled, like sort of soft?" Lily said motioning with her hands. "Well anyways I got this kind of whoosh-y feeling in my stomach and then last night I had this dream"

"A dream!" I mouthed to Mendara and she grinned broadly. "A sexy one?" she asked. "No!" Lily exclaimed vehemently "God, you lot are a bunch of pervs". "Hey!" I piped up, still braiding along like the good little girl I am. "I like a good, dirty dream as much as the next girl" Lily huffed disapprovingly "And Mendara likes them a lot" I supplied, to which I got her Teddy Bear, Mr. Swinkles thrown at me.

"Anyways" Lily said sternly, steering the conversation back on track. "It was at the Hogsmeade entrance for the shrieking shack, and the sun was setting and James and I were like cuddling or something, his arms were wrapped around me and I was like leaning against him" Mendara raised and eyebrow, and I wrapped an elastic around the second braid. "Ooh!" We chorused together, in our girlie girl voices. "That's not it, when I woke up I felt really happy and at peace" she finished, standing up and wandering over to her bed, lifting up a compact and looking at the mirror, before powdering her nose. "Your in love" I said, flopping back down onto my bed. She snorted, before applying some mascara. "Why are you getting all gussied up?" Mendara asked, closing her textbook with a snap and standing up, stretching her arms over her head, and revealing a good couple of inches of her bare stomach. "Quidditch game today" Lily answered. "Gotta support Gryffindor" she said and looked at the pair of us who looked like she had just spoken a foreign language. "What you guys aren't going to the game?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh we're going" Mendara said absently, as she pulled her hair back in a ponytail. "We'll look like crap but we're definitely going" I finished for her. Gidget walked out of the bathroom, chomping on her Drooble's like it was cud. Honestly, I know she's the most sought after girl in the castle, but sometimes I don't understand it. She paused in front of her full length mirror (You know how some people have models on their mirrors? Well Gidget has pictures of herself. Enough said) and yanked her tank top down to expose more of her cleavage before promptly walking out of the room. "How does she function?" Mendara wondered out loud.

I felt someone staring at me and turned to face Lily, who was looking at me with squinty eyes and a wide smile. "You know what would be fun" she said more as a statement than a question "Uh-oh" I said, biting my lip. "Makeovers!" She screeched.

Dara and I tried to get away but Lily Evans is surprisingly spry.

--

"You look so unpatriotic" Lily sniffed, her cheeks were pink in the crisp air, and she and Mendara were dressed in red and gold. I however was in cords, my favorite pink t-shirt and a faded denim jacket, as an afterthought I slung my Gryffindor scarf around my neck, and least I forget my pink, fuzzy earmuffs. "I like to stand out" I said, the truth was, red or gold didn't go well with my complexion. "Besides, I don't need to get dressed up, my Boyfriend's not on the team!" I said sticking out my tongue. "Yeah but your future boyfriend is" Mendara taunted. "Who?" Lily asked obliviously. "Sirius Black" Dara answered back, smugly. As for me I just tried to tune them out.

That was until a red-headed Hufflepuff, shoved me from behind, sending me tripping forward and I grabbed onto Lily's arm to steady myself. "Watch it you, cow" Mendara warned, turning around to glare at Sirius' fan. The players started to whiz onto the field, Slughorn was announcing, which was kind of irritating because he always rolls his r's (must think it makes him sound more sophisticated. I personally think he sounds like a jackass) so when Sirrrrrrrrius Black flew onto the pitch, the three of us looked at each other.

"Shall we pull a Gidge?" Lily suggested and we all nodded. "We love you Sirius!" we yelled in a high falsetto, to which got a few laughs in the Gryffindor section. And the cocky arsehole actually blew us a kiss. I nudged Lily as Gidget turned around a few rows down and gave us the stinkeye.

"Oh look James looks jealous!" Lily cackled, as a moody Potter frowned in our general direction. "Oh poor bloke" Mendara said with a tiny grin spread across her face, one I knew well. I cleared my throat dramatically. "Potter I want to have your babies!" I screamed as loud as I could. A few seconds later Mendara screeched "Marry me James!" James instantly beamed, doing a few loops before flying over towards the Ref and the Ravenclaw team captain. Dara and I exchanged a high-five, as we glanced over at Lily, covering her face. "You two are so embarrassing" she said, her voice muffled by her fingers.

"Jealous" I said, sticking my tongue out.

--

Quidditch is actually quite a fun sport to watch, when you're watching it with two girls who know nothing about it. During the game our conversations were usually something like this "What just happened?" "I think he got the thing-y?" "Which thing-y?" "You know which one, don't be daft". Dara actually stood up and clapped when Gryffindor got a penalty, which Lily and I had a good laugh at until I started booing when we got a goal. So all in all great game. It went on for three hours, but Gryffindor was victorious in the end.

I was glad we won, later as I stood in the dorm; I had been coaxed to get changed by Dara and Lily. The Victory parties are so much better than the defeat parties, whenever we lose everyone just gets piss drunk and makes out with everyone else, well when we win we basically do the same thing, but the atmosphere is much more cheery. I sighed, spreading a thin layer of lip gloss across my wide, clownish mouth, before rubbing my lips together.

I nearly got away with going down stairs in my black stretchy pants but Mendara accosted me on the stairs and vowed if I wore sweats to a party she could not be my best friend any longer.

So I hear I was dressed in a pair of dark jeans (Mine, Lily and Dara's legs are too long for me to borrow their pants), a form fitting red strapless top (Dara's, it was form fitting, cause my tits are bigger than hers) and a pair of cute black flats of Lily's. My make-up was minimal and I made my way down the stairs, I could hear the bass thumping from the music playing, and people were already dancing. Nearly everyone was wearing red or gold, Peter Pettigrew made the mistake of wearing a green sweater vest and was booed back up to the dorms (Slytherin colors AND a fashion tragedy).

I had left my hair in my two messy plaits, but I guess they weren't acceptable either since almost as soon as I set foot in the common room, Mendara quickly began to undo them, her fingers working their way through my hair, leaving it falling in kinky curls falling down my back. I would have protested, but I love it when people play with my hair so I kept quiet.

Another one of my slumber-party-talents is dancing like a slapper. Me and Mendara probably look like the skankiest girls ever. Skankier than Gidget, which really says something. It's a proven fact that it's more fun to dance dirty than just normal. I look at the girls who are worried to give off the wrong impression, with their stiff hips and limp arms and just feel sorry for them.

So Dara and I moved further into the crowds of dancing bodies, and found our rhythm and just started to let loose. Usually boys tried to butt in but I stuck with Dara, my preferred dancing partner. Just as we started to really get into it, Remus made the mistake of walking buy. Dara grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the vortex of gyrating hips. "C'mon Remus, dance with us" she said, and looped her Gryffindor scarf around his neck, dancing closer to him. The look on Remus' face was priceless. I didn't really mind being ditched for a boy; I knew Dara had already been into the fire whiskey.

The idea of fire whiskey distracted me from dancing and I wondered over to the coffee table, a big bowl of punch was perched on it, plastic cups stacked neatly next to it. I ladled myself a cup. The punch was always spiked (courtesy of the Marauders) despite Lily's rants about it, the next morning as she was suffering from a hang-over (Everyone knows the punch is always spiked, even Lily. She just didn't want to ruin her good girl rep) I seriously doubted that they would stop.

I saw Sirius sitting on the couch, Lily and James were sitting next to him, deep into a heated discussion. That's what Lily preferred to call their arguments; she felt she was too mature to be fighting. I made my way over to them and perched on armrest, I was just in time for the grand finale. "Well if you think that you're wrong!" Lily shrieked and James just smirked "Oh get that stick out of your arse, Evans" he chided. Lily made a strangled noise and threw her cup of punch in James' face before storming off.

James sighed, clasping Sirius' shoulder. "I'm going to go get cleaned up mate" he said, sounding resigned. "Later" Sirius said, and we both watched James dejectedly traipse up the dorm steps. "Lily is such a badass" I muttered, with a grin on my lips and Sirius laughed. "I like you're new do, Malone" he said reaching up and maybe accidentally, maybe purposely brushing his fingers against my neck, before curling his calloused fingertip around one of my strands of hair. If he meant to or not, I still got a tingly feeling down my spine. "Thank you" I said with a soft smile, as he dropped his hand.

He was wearing a tight-red t-shirt and his biceps looked huge, and his shoulder's broad, and I managed to concentrate on looking at his face (Which was just as distracting, to be honest) "So I just came to congratulate you on a great game" I managed to say. "Thank you, darling" he said, as the song changed into a slow one. I saw Mendara draw Remus even closer, and I knew they'd be making out in a dark corner by the end of the night, if I knew Dara at all. And I certainly did. Sirius was saying something to me, I recognized the teasing tone in his voice but I was distracted by Peter asking Gidget to dance. She laughed and spun around, her blonde hair swishing around her shoulder. I felt something stir in my stomach and launched myself off the chesterfield, saying "Excuse me" determinedly to Sirius as I made my way through the bustling crowd till I found Peter. "Peter, do you want to dance with me?" I asked confidently. And when he smiled and said yeah, I felt myself smile just as big and said "okay"

He rested his hands respectfully on my waist and I looped my hands around his neck. With me being so short, he stood an inch or two taller than me, which I was happy about. Maybe this boosted his ego a little more. I'm guessing usually his dancing partners are taller than him.

I got the feeling in my stomach that someone was watching me. I turned my head around and saw Sirius standing up, his eyes on the two of us. Something was different. A smirk of a grin, as usual wasn't on his lips. Instead it was a smile, a real smile. It fit him, I decided. I turned my head back around. I didn't want Peter to see me staring at his best friend instead of paying attention to him. I allowed myself to imagine dancing with Sirius instead of a second, my head resting on his broad chest, before ushering the thought out of my mind with great haste.

"You're a good dancer, Billee" Peter said and a smile worked its way onto my lips again. He really was a sweetheart. Gidget could go jump off the Astronomy Tower. "Thanks Peter" I said.

The music played on and we swayed gently, in the same gentle movement.

I felt his eyes on me the whole time.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: In a huge rush to post this chapter! Thanks to reviewers and I hope you enjoy it! Review!

Chapter 3

In my muggle catholic religion, Sunday is the day of rest. Peaceful aimless walks, crossword puzzles and naps that stretch on forever. Not a pounding migraine that was the leftover of a severe hangover. I groaned and managed to stumble into the bathroom, and made the mistake of looking at myself in the mirror. My skin was pale and clammy, my hair was in a sloppy ponytail, someone had changed me into my pajamas but had put on my shirt inside out (Must have been Lily, Dara was too pissed drunk to do it).

I felt the familiar bile rising up in my throat and dry heaved into the toilet a few times, realizing I must have emptied my stomach contents last night; I staggered downstairs and collapsed onto the squashy sofa. The punch bowl had been cleaned out and now a potion was simmering in it, the stench and the fog rising out of it told me that it was your standard, hangover cure. I ladled myself a cup, greedily, chugged it down faster than I chugged my punch last night, tried not to gag and then flopped back down. I squeezed my eyes tight, praying the room would stop spinning.

I rested my clammy cheek on the soft velvety material and then I passed out.

--

When I woke up, someone had conjured up an ice pack and it was resting on my forehead. My temples and the spots behind my ears (Do they even have names?) were pounding but at least Remus' head, who was looming over me, wasn't spinning.

"Oh Billee" he chided softly, and I made a guttural moan. "Use words, Malone" James said with a grin. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw, that Remus was now sitting on the end of the sofa and that James and Peter were playing chess. "Here are a couple of words for you: Sod off" I muttered, and managed to push myself into a sitting position. "Is she feeling better?" Sirius asked, walking into the portrait hole, and it occurred to me that the hangover potion as well as the ice pack had been all them. He paused mid step and muttered "Yikes" under his breath at the sight of me.

"Oh shove it and twist" I said, gently taking out my elastic and re-doing my ponytail. "How are you feeling?" Remus asked, sounding much like my Mum and I glanced at him blankly "Peachy" I said, sarcastically. It hurt to speak; my voice was strained and husky. I guess this could be easily explained since I wore out my vocal chords singing along to the music last night and then retching into the toilet a couple hours later.

"Well buck up buttercup" Sirius announced too cheerfully. "Her Majesty Lily would like our presence in the library for our first dream discussion" he proclaimed even louder. "Bloody hell" I muttered crossly and stood up, the pain in my head was slowly fading but in no way was I feeling up to discussing divination drivel. "James, come on" I growled "Ah come on, wait till the games done!" he begged. I shot Sirius a look which must have said do-something-about-this-you-great-oaf because he immediately piped up. "James you don't want to be late for the love of your life" he reminded him and James stood up so fast, he nearly knocked Peter over.

--

"So the first question is…" Lily trailed off; trying to locate the said question on her parchment "Is what we learned about each other" she said. "Well I learned that Sirius is afraid of flobberworms" she supplied scribbling it down. "Don't put that down!" Sirius said urgently "That's going to ruin my manly rep" we all ignored him, which was what I had been doing the whole time. I guess seeing me dance like a slapper last night must've turned him on or something because he'd been flirting shamelessly with me the whole time. Right now his arm was draped over the back of my chair, and he was playing with the end of my ponytail. I let him continue because firstly I turn to a puddle of goop whenever anyone plays with my hair (Let alone the hottest boy in school) and secondly this was relatively tame for him.

In the short time we were here he made Lily move so he could sit next to me, put his hand on my thigh and then once I had put a stop to that, he kept on rubbing his foot against my pajama clad leg.

"I learned that James almost drowned" I said flipping through the dream journal warily and Lily wrote that down as well. "Billee has two sisters" Sirius piped up. He had learned this from a dream where Annie, Cam and I were all riding on big geese and then at the end we realized we were on a baby mobile. Yeah, it was weird.

"Two very sexy sisters" he added and I rolled my eyes. He had said I was holding out on him by never telling him about my family and then had browbeaten me into showing him a picture of the three of us.

"For the last time, Annie is married and Cam is only fourteen, you great pervert" I said shooting him a dirty look, and jerking my head away from his fingers which he had started to slide down the nape of my neck.

"Humph, that might seem like a lot now but when I'm eighty-four she'll only be eighty-two" he informed me and I snorted in return. "Yeah, like I'd ever let you get near my baby sister" I said, and crossed my arms over my chest, defensively.

"Oh!" Lily said loudly, and reached in the back pocket of her jeans. "That reminded me, I went up to the Owlery and saw that you got a letter from Annie", she added and handed over a crumpled envelope that read 'William' in a familiar loopy script on the front and smelled of freesias and grapefruit, that memorable Annie smell.

William was her pet name for me; she always called it in a formal, aristocratic voice, a few octaves higher than normal. I ripped open the envelope greedily, my eyes scanning each line frantically, until I reached the end and then I started reading it again. Annie's letters were something that was always looked forward to. I don't know how she does it but ever word is just as warm as funny as she is. When I write letters I sound either as ditzy as Gidget or formal as McGonagall. Her letters were always filled with silly stories about the kids she teaches and her husband, Gavin that made me ache for my house on Grafton Lane, with the peeling paint and rusty swing set.

I realized hazily that they were carrying on with the assignment and were on question three already. My eyes were wet and I saw Sirius staring at me, something like concern evident on his features. "Alright Billee?" he asked and I nodded. "Oh yeah I'm fine, I always get a little homesick when I get a letter" I said and blinked my eyes a few times. "I get sick when I get mail from home too" he said, and there was a bitterness laced through his voice that was new to me.

He didn't smile for the rest of the "dream discussion" and I have no idea why but when he put his arm around the back of my chair again, I found myself shifting my chair closer to his own, and I let him play with my ponytail again. Win-Win.

--

"No!" I cried, Mendara, Lily and I were having a girls night (Which was basically every night) I could feel Mendara's facial cream hardening on my face from where I was leaning against the door frame in the bathroom. Lily was sitting on the toilet and Mendara was spreading the green goop all over Lily's fair, freckled face. "Just admit it, Bill. You guys were all over each other today" Lily taunted and went to touch the goop on her cheek as Mendara slapped her hand away. She has great reflexes.

"Excuse me!" I said, offended. "He was all over me, it was not mutual. Secondly, I only let him be all touchy feely because he got all mopey about his family, and thirdly he has a girlfriend!"

Mendara snorted at this last point I made. "Please, Billee. You are not that dumb"

"Hey! Are you calling me du-" I started to get out, insulted but Mendara interrupted me. "Boys do not date Gidget, you do not take Gidget home to meet your parents, Gidget, bless her heart, is a fuck-me friend" Lily wrinkled her nose, at that term, as did I.

"Okay, if that's true. That's even worse. How do you know that he's not planning on treating me as a fuck-me friend?" I asked.

"Because you're not Gidget" Lily piped up. I rolled my eyes, turning on the faucet as it spat old cold water, and cupped my hands together, making a pool of water in the palm of my hand before splashing it on my face and watching the green cream swirl down the drain.

"This is me ignoring you guys now" I said, my voice sounding monotone, and patted my face off with a towel. "Just promise me that you'll say yes if he asks you out" Mendara said, moving over to the sink and rinsing off her gook as well. "He won't ask me out, Dara" I said in a whiny voice and passed the towel over to her.

"Don't be daft, of course he will" Lily said, standing up and joining us at the cluttered sink. I expected to hear the cliché 'any guy would be lucky to have you' but instead I got Classic Lily "He's best friends with Potter. That guy's piece of advice to everything is 'ask her out'. Got a zit? Ask it out" Lily said, beginning to rinse off her face.

"My grandma passed on. Ask her out" Mendara added, cackling. I rolled my eyes at the both of them. "Just say you will, Billee and then we'll leave you alone" Dara begged, earnestly. "Fine, fine" I said to get them off my case. But I wasn't expecting to be asked out by Sirius Black.

"Okay, great" Dara with a million watt smile "Now I got this pore minimizer stuff, it's a miracle seriously" she said digging around in her extensive make-up bag.

I pushed all complicated thoughts out of my head, and decided just to think about base foundation, minimized pores and other shite like that. I lifted my self up onto the sink countertop, as Lily indulged us her latest misadventures with James. Laughter rang out from the cramped bathroom. And I glanced in the mirror, and saw our faces encompassed in a square, light shining in from the bedroom and committed this picture to my memory.

Just three girls, goofing off without a care in the world.

--

Unfortunately we can't all stay in our bathrooms forever. Lily's copy of the Daily Prophet was being circulated through the Gryffindor table with shaky hands, when I made my arrival in the great hall. Mendara's face was a chalky white, Potter looked as though he did when Lily got a new boyfriend, and Remus was dragging his fork through his scrambled eggs listlessly.

"What's wrong?" I was, immediately as I plopped down in my seat, and Sirius from his seat beside me, passed over the paper. My throat felt dry as I looked at the black and white picture, in which a skull was hovering eerily in the air. "Oh" was all I got out, before my eyes started to comb through the article. A muggle family of four slain in their own home, for doing nothing but being born with the wrong ability. I sucked in a shaky breath and slid the paper across the table to Lily. "I ca- can't finish that right now" I spit out, nervously running a hand through my hair. "One was just a baby" James said, his voice barely a rumble.

"How can anyone do something like that?" Mendara uncharacteristically burst out, and I knew she wasn't really looking for an answer. "He's not human, Dara" Remus said, draping his arm over the back of her chair and giving her shoulder a little squeeze. "How are we supposed to get through the day?" Lily asked, and the question hung in the air until Sirius in a stony voice answered "The best way we can"

--

"Hello, love" Sirius offered with a cheesy grin when I stepped into our Divination classroom. "Hello, to you too" I said, plopping down heavily on my pouf, next to his, and glanced at the two empty ones where Lily and James should have been sitting. "Where are James and Lily?" I asked, curiously, taking the dream diary out of my shoulder bag and setting it down next to Sirius, which he picked up and flipped through it leisurely.

"Probably either shagging in a closet someplace or ripping each other's heads off" he said casually, his eyes scanning over Lily's latest entry. Her dreams were always the most entertaining. "Fair enough" I said with a small smile. He glanced up and grinned at me, before closing the book and gave me his full attention. "So any plans for the Hogsmeade weekend?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"That's like three weeks from now!" I said incredulously. "I would have thought you've had dozens of proposals already" he said, shaking his hair out of eyes, a lazy grin on his lips. "Flattery doesn't work that well on me" I informed him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Are you sure?" he asked, tilting his head to a jaunty angle. "Cause I'm pretty sure when I ask you to get a drink we me on said Hogsmeade day, you'll say yes, mainly because of my charming personality and rugged good looks" he stated, a confident smile working it's way onto his lips and making it's self home.

"Oh really?" I said, quirking my eyebrows and fighting hard not to smile. But a slow grin, started to twitch at my corners and his smile only grew larger and lovelier. "Should I take that as a yes?" he inquired. "Maybe" I said coolly, and pushed some hair out of my face, trying to hold onto some air of mystery.

"Okay then, Hogshead two-thirty" He said brusquely and then mimicked me as I wrinkled my nose. "What, not posh enough, dahling?" he said in an aristocratic voice. I snorted; posh was the least of my concerns. I was notoriously low maintenance. "The Hogshead is so…" I struggled for the right word "Dingy" was my choice in the end.

"Billee, Billee, Billee" he said in his soft, teasing voice that I had come to know well over the past week or so. He covered my small, bony, old lady hand which his own, which was way bigger than mine in comparison. He had long fingers, neatly trimmed nails and no hair on his knuckles. Nice, very nice, plus he was warm unlike my last boyfriend Todd, who had a reputation for being clammy. It always felt like a cold fish was sliding under my shirt when we made out, which was another reason I broke it off. Todd was very… hands-y.

"What's the point of going to a pub if it isn't even slightly dingy?" he asked with a knowing shake of his head. "Sorry" I exclaimed, with a small smile, raising my hands as a sign of peace. "You have much to learn, Malone" he said seriously "So that's why you need to get a drink with me, at the hogs head" he added, a small smile working it's way onto his lips.

"Fine" I said finally, as Lily and James finally joined us, their bickering creating my favorite kind of background music.

--

"Hey, Billee" someone called, a male voice. I spun around surprised. The only boys that called my name were Sirius, James, Remus and Peter and usually it was my last name, and they certainly wouldn't be jogging to catch up with me like Quinn Hollander was right now.

Quinn and I had been potions partners last year, and we had an on-going flirtation, but I hadn't seen him at all his year. He was tall, had solemn brown eyes and an adorable snaggletooth.

"Hello Quinton" I said using his birth name in a superior voice as he fell in step next to me. "Muriel" he said tipping an imaginary hat in my general direction. "Shh!" I screeched, and covered his mouth with my hand, although I had to stand on my very tippy toes to accomplish this feat. I had made the mistake of telling Quinn my middle name last year when I was trying to reassure him that he did not have the worst name ever. So I confessed that my second name was Muriel, named after my grandma. Most people thought my middle name was Blanca (More glamorous) but only Lily, Dara and now Quinn knew my dark, dark secret. Okay I know I'm being a dramatic ditz but come on, cut me some slack.

"What, is that some secret or something?" he asked innocently, his voice muffled by my hand, which I promptly moved away and I saw that he was grinning. "Anyways Muriel... Can I call you that, Muriel?" he asked emphasizing the name both times. I playfully whacked him on the arm, I hadn't realized that I missed our little flirty exchanges, but I guess I did because I knew I must've been grinning like mad. "I was wondering if you were free for the Hogsmead weekend, you know do some knitting, drink some prune juice" he said, and nervously ran a hand through his hair.

I bit my lip, maybe subconsciously but Quinn got the message loud and clear. "Ah, I should have known you'd be snatched up already" he said with a smile, a heartbreaker's smile.

"Promise you'll ask me next time?" I asked with a grin and he shook his head. "One time offer, Malone" before running his hands down his torso "And you'll be missing out on all of this".

I laughed loudly, in spite of myself and he ruffled my hair as a friendly gesture before turning on his heel and retracing his steps down the hallway.

--

"I don't want it to look like, too date-y" I said, tossing my newly blow dried hair over my shoulder. "Got it" Mendara said, her voice muffled, seeing as she was half buried in my trunk, throwing random articles of clothing on my bed.

After modeling several outfits for Lily and Mendara (Met with catcalls nearly every time) we decided on a pair of tight, faded out jeans, my favorite red, pink and white plaid shirt, which I unbuttoned a few extra buttons as well as a pair of cute red flats of Lily's. Mendara had just scooped my hair up in a high ponytail and Lily lent me a little white headband.

Overall, I looked cute. The jeans made my arse look kind of big, but what can you do? The three of us walked to Hogsmeade together. Lily left us to go to the bookstore with some of her Ravenclaw friends (Typical) and me and Dara just wandered aimlessly, just talking and laughing like we often did.

When two-thirty struck I hurried off to the Hogs Head. Magnus the bartender flirted with me for about five minutes, and then hurried over to serve a party of three who had a rather suspicious smell. I ordered my first butterbeer ten minutes after the agreed meeting time. I guzzled it down quickly and then ordered a second one, he was fifteen minutes late. My third one was requested at a half an hour. And by the time an hour had rolled around I was seated with the smelly folks (who were actually quite sweet) I had switched over to firewhiskey and we were in a heated discussion which consisted mainly of bashing the Minister of Magic. The bell above the door jingled-jangled merrily, as a group of rowdy ravenclaws, including Quinn and then Lily and Dara walked in. I saw Dara's eyes head to the bar and narrow as she didn't spot me. It was Quinn who saw me first seated with my new friends.

"Billee?" he asked incredulously, as I downed the rest of my drink, as Lucinda, Merrigan and Marigold looked on at me in wonder at my chugging skills. For being so tiny I retained my liquor well, seeing as this was my second firewhiskey and I was only a little sloshed.

"Oh, love" Lily said sympathetically, as she pieced together what happened, as Mendara gently smoothed down my hair with her hand. I felt as if I was going to cry, and it didn't help that Quinn was looking at me with probing eyes, as if saying "You should have picked me".

"Maggie!" I called loudly and Magnus looked up "Keep 'em coming!" I instructed, banging my mug on the table. Lily walked up to the counter, probably to persuade him to ignore my request. "Lily always kills my buzz" I explained to Lucinda, who the ravenclaws were looking at with agape mouths. "Billee, come on. Let's go for a walk" Quinn, said more as an order than a suggestion, and forced my to my feet, where he led me out of the door, his hand situated on my lower back.

He led me a little further, the silence was deafening, and his hand was lightly touching my elbow, gently guiding me where to go. I think he thought I was more inebriated then I actually was, but for some reason I let him continue doing it. We stopped at the viewpoint of the Shrieking Shack, and I sniffled in the crisp early October air. "I hate to say I told you so…" he trailed off in a teasing voice.

"Then don't" I instructed, feeling a slow smile start to spread it's self over my lips. The blanket of stillness covered us once again, before I felt his eyes on me. I turned my head, staring back at him. "What?" I asked, sounding a little rude. "Nothing" he said shyly, his cheeks coloring. "No, come on" I said bumping him with my shoulder, playfully. "Tell me".

He shook his head, a little incredulously "I was just thinking about how lovely you look…" he trailed off, his eyes were twinkling. Quinn's eyes were so different than his. Warm and brown were far less intimidating then the icy blue orbs that had been piercing my brain, leaving little holes, the past few weeks.

It was undisputable; I was the one who made the move. Moving my head, closer and closer to his, and standing on my very tippy toes, I kissed Quinn full on, on the lips. For a second, I was doing all the work, and I was worried he'd think he was sloppy seconds (Which he kind of was, if I'm being completely honest) but soon he started to reciprocate. Even if I knew it wasn't quite right, his lips against mine felt so much better than the burning in my throat from the whiskey and the burning in my heart from rejection. So when he pulled away, a question perched on the tip of his tongue, I interrupted him by pressing my lips against his again.

--

"So you and Hollander, huh?" A voice asked from the portrait hole and I looked up, surprised to see a surly Sirius with his arms crossed over his chest. "Very good, would you like a round of applause" I muttered, under my breath, keeping my eyes on a History of Magic essay I had been putting on.

"What's got you in such a fowl mood?" he asked curiously, plopping down in the chair across from mine. I felt like screaming my lungs out but instead I inhaled a shaky breath and stated matter-of-factly, "Oh I'm not sure. Usually getting stood up at the dingiest bar in all of the world makes me feel positively blissful" I spat the last couple of words out, I knew my nasty look was playing on my features (The nasty look consists of the wrinkled nose, narrowed eyes and pursed lips).

It was awkward for a moment before he started in on the apologies "Billee, you have no idea how so-" he started but I interrupted him "Oh save it" I snapped, crossly.

"Just hear me out" he pleaded in a tone I never heard before, he sounded desperate. "I was visiting Remus in the hospital wing, and completely forgot to tell you I couldn't make it".

As far as excuses go, this was on the list of acceptable ones. I knew my features must have softened slightly "Is Remus alright then?" I asked only with a slight level of hostility in my voice.

"He's fine" he said, in an offhand kind of way. "Well" I said hesitantly, how was I supposed to stay furious with him when he was visiting his friend in the hospital? "Don't worry about it" I said with a sense of finality, and continued on working on my essay about the first minister of magic, but I could feel him watching me still. I heaved a sigh, and reluctantly met his gaze. "Something you want?" I asked with forced politeness.

"I can't believe you're dating Quinn Hollander" he stated skeptically. "What does that guy have to offer at all?" he enquired, but I knew he really didn't want to hear my answer. I rolled my eyes and stood up. I realized that there was no way I was going to finish this essay with him around. "You're cute when you're jealous" I said, with a smirk. I was about to go up to my dorm, but he blocked my path. "Your cute all the time" he replied, his voice husky as he moved closer, invading my personal space. And the smirk promptly fell off my face.

He reached up, and pushed some of my hair out of my eyes and let his hand linger there, his fingertips tracing the outline of my mouth. "Don't do this" I muttered weakly, my heart was hammering in my chest, as he ignored me, gently tracing imaginary patterns down my neck.

I knew I had to stop this. I placed both of my palms on his hard pecs and with more will power then I knew I had I pushed him away.

"You've got to stop playing games with me, Sirius" I growled, inhaling deeply.

"Billee, I care too much about you for games" he said, touching my cheek tenderly. And I jerked my head back roughly. "If that was true" I said stonily, my voice getting louder "Then you would do me a favor and dump your fuck-me mate!" I exclaimed, my voice sounding harsh in my own ears.

And then I stomped up the staircase to my dorm, slammed my door shut and collapsed on my bed, ignoring Lily and Dara's furtive glances. I scanned my last few lines of the essay and saw that I had accidentally wrote Sirius instead of serious. "Sodding essay!" I shrieked, crumpling it in a ball and biffing it across the room. I collapsed on my bed, covering my eyes to block out Lily and Dara's alarmed faces. "What happened?" Mendara finally got out, sounding startled.

"You don't want to know" I said wearily and then burst into tears.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Yay thanks to all of my reviewers, 7 this time! I'm so thrilled that you guys are liking this story as much as you are. Things get a little more dramatic in this one, and It's also the longest one yet! So I hope you guys enjoy it and PLEASE REVIEW!

I don't own anything in this story except Billee Malone, Mendara Chang and Gidget Pennyworth (Yay I finally got Gidget a surname), the song Momentary Thing is by Something Happens.

_Shook me up I guess, I guess, I guess..  
Stirring me up yes, yes, yes..  
It's at the point of breaking down,  
Cause there's nothing left to say.  
I think you waste your sweetness.  
I think the whole thing blew away.  
_

_After all, well isn't this just a momentary thing?  
It's not like I expected it,  
Or any heavy thing_

Chapter 4:

"Why can't the other prefects help you with this?" I asked, grabbing a fistful of candy and shoving it in the small red drawstring bag and then performing the charm, with a flick of my wand. It had been Lily's bright idea to make up little goody bags for all the kids in Gryffindor. As she explained it, it made the muggle kids less homesick for a traditional Halloween but there was still wizarding candy and a little charm of a lion roaring when your first open the bag, so it would appeal to the purebloods as well.

This was a cute idea, I admit it. I would have loved my own little goody bag, if I hadn't been the one stuffing it, the night before Halloween when I just wanted to be in bed more than anything else.

"Remus is, and I quote 'Sick'" she said, making another bag and tossing it by the pile of other completed ones. "If this doesn't get me Head Girl next year…" she muttered under her breath. "I knew you weren't doing this out of the kindness of your heart" Mendara accused, darkly.

I glanced over at the growing pile of the drawstring sacs. "Are we nearly done?" I asked, hopefully. "Nearly" Lily permitted and I made some kind of grumpy noise, shoving some more candy into the bag.

"So, what's the new gossip?" Mendara asked expectantly. "Oh!" I cried. "I saw the cutest thing yesterday" I began and I instantly saw Lily's cheeks color. "Billee Malone, shut your trap right now!" she ordered sternly. "Never" I said defiantly, tucking my hair behind my ears and then continuing on with my story. "So the other day when I was coming back from potions, I saw Miss. Evans here, and her bag had split in the dungeon corridor, and James Potter was on his knees picking up all her things off the dirty, grimy floor, getting the knees of his pants all filthy and then he repaired her bag for her, and then went on about how she shouldn't be carrying something so heavy. Then he carried it to her next class for her" I finished smugly.

Mendara looked like she'd turn into a puddle of goop if someone poked her with a stick. "Oh Lily" she breathed, her hands pressed against her heart dramatically. "If someone did something like that for me, I'd…" she trailed off. And Lily looked alarmed "Okay we don't really need to know the details!" she said quickly. Dara gets carried away sometimes.

"Why aren't you guys together yet?" Dara asked, furrowing her slender eyebrows. "She's scared" I said, reaching to open a licorice wand but Lily snatched it out of my hand, her cheeks were tinged with a soft pink color. She always managed to blush prettily, something I envied. Gidget told me, after she walked in on me and Quinn in the girls bathroom making out that I looked like a 'total constipated lobster'. She also mentioned that she was surprised I was with Quinn. She thought that he was 'like way out of your league'. Bitch.

"I am not" Lily said sternly. I raised an eyebrow and she ignored me, swiftly changing the subject "So what are you guys dressing up as for the party?" she enquired, barely pausing before adding "Please let it not be one of your skanky variations again"

Dara snorted "That's half the fun, my dear". It was a tradition of sorts for me and Dara to get up in some slutty get up, but somewhere along fourth year we kind of ran out of ideas, so they were usually pretty unusual. Last year Mendara had gone as a slapper owl (Rocking the feathers), and I had been a slutty Pumpkin Pasty (Quite a feat).

"You'll just have to wait" I taunted Lily with a rueful smile, which she just rolled her eyes at. "Oh I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat" seeing she was already peeved off at me, I decided not to point out that she was lounging on the floor, and this so called seat was no where in sight.

"Okay Lils" Mendara said sounding weary "I give. We have to be done now" she said and giving the pile of goody bags an incredulous glance. "Yeah I think your right" she said, tossing the one she had just finished.

"Well I'm beat" I said, crawling up on my bed, where surprisingly Lily joined me and unsurprisingly Mendara did too. Lily was very picky about mattresses, apparently mine was too squishy and Dara's was too firm. But Mendara on the other hand could sleep on a bed of nails. She often crawled in bed with me and we'd talk and giggle until one of us fell asleep.

This wasn't the most comfortable situation, I had some how ended up in the middle and they were squishing me, Lily's arms were thrown up over her head and Dara kept on falling asleep and then jerking herself awake, her hair was strewn across my pillow and was tickling my ear. I wasn't comfy, but I felt safe.

That was until Gidget stormed into the room, kicking off her shoes and socks, angrily muttering something indecipherable in soft tones. "Sirius troubles?" Lily asked tentatively. Gidget promptly shrieked, wailing like a banshee, I was actually grateful for her drama-queen behavior. Seeing as soon as Sirius' name was mentioned in context to Gidget I had subconsciously sucked in my breath. Thanks to Gidget though, no one had heard. Except for Dara, who tenderly touched my elbow in response.

"That boy is the most, rude and inconsiderate person I've ever met" Gidget exclaimed before stomping off into the bathroom. "Sorry I asked" Lily mumbled and Dara snorted, "Yeah, Lils. She sounded like you". To which she got my stuffed Frog, Edmund thrown at her. "Hey!" I proclaimed, scooping Edmund off Dara's face and hugging him protectively to my chest.

It wasn't her fault, but we could never talk as freely when Gidget was around, so a blanket of silence fell over us and Lily reached over and flicked off the lamp on my nightstand. "Happy Halloween girls" she said softly. Dara and I echoed the sentiment, not quite in unison.

I was on the brink of sleep, when your thoughts are jumbled and near dream-quality when the bathroom door swung open, light pouring into the dark room. Gidget, make-up free walked out a sour expression on her face. It was a rare sight to see her without at least a tiny smattering of base, and she looked older and surprisingly had bags under her eyes. I know it was immature of me and that this should have made me feel sorry for her, maybe it was my jealousy rearing its head, or just some old resentment stored up. But I whispered "Boo" and Lily and Dara dissolved into giggles.

It was harder to get to sleep this time around, but I managed.

--

Unfortunately I didn't stay asleep long, it was so crowded and hot, I thought that was what woke me but then I heard quiet muffled sobs. I looked from Dara, who looked peaceful to Lily, who wasn't moving a muscle. For a moment I was very confused, but that I glanced over at the far side of the room and saw Gidget, with her head buried in her pillow and her shoulders shaking.

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to disentangle myself from my position between them, without waking them up. I stumbled blindly over to Gidget's bed, and sat down carefully on the corner of it. "Gidge" I said softly, reaching over to touch her shoulder "Alright?" I asked cautiously.

Her sobbing miraculously stopped and the room was dead quiet, once again. But then I heard a quiet little broken voice say "No I'm not" before her crying started once again. This pretty much broke my heart, and I found myself scooting closer to her on her bed. "What's wrong?" I enquired, rubbing what I hoped to be comforting circles on her shoulder.

She sniffled and managed to get out in a shuddery gasp "I'm like, so sick of everyone just using me all the time" I bit my lip, worriedly. Mendara or Lily should be doing this, not me. Everyone knew I was rubbish at the whole comforting thing. I usually just rubbed people's backs and stayed silent. And just how in the bloody hell was I supposed to make Gidget of all people feel better?

"Do you mean boys?" I asked tentatively. Gidget promptly let out a howl, sounding like a heartbroken whale. "Shh shh shh" I said frantically, glancing worriedly at the pair of sleepers in my bed. Lily made a noise but they both made no movements. "Its okay" I added, just so I didn't sound like a total wench.

"Like, I know I'm so beautiful" she sniffled and I fought off the urge to snicker or roll my eyes or something! Even though I realized I had somewhat misjudged Gidget Pennyworth, she still had that special Gidget self-involved charm. "But it would just be nice if I could find one boy, who just isn't looking to get in my pants."

"Gidget, I hate to ask, but what spurred this on?" I asked, my own curiosity getting the best of me.

She let out a loud sigh "Sirius broke up with me" she said, her voice cracked on the last word, as big fat tears tumbled down her sculptured cheekbones and down onto her hollow cheeks that she didn't bother to wipe away. "And I don't know why I'm like freaking 'cause we break up like every two weeks"

"Well… that's true" I said, I had no clue on how to go about this comforting thing, so I decided the best way was just to agree with everything she said. And this was true, usually they'd get in some stupid fight, when one of them flirted with someone else, and then later on that evening we'd have to watch as they nauseatingly made up in the common room.

"I think I'm just sick of it. I'm giving up boys" she said astutely and this time I did laugh. I couldn't help it; it was the most preposterous thing I had ever heard. I let out, a big, old unattractive snort. But I deftly covered it up with a fake sneeze and excused myself, which she replied "Bless you" obliviously.

"Wouldn't it be easier, you know, just to find a nice boy?" I asked hesitantly.

"Nice?" she asked, wrinkling up her nose.

And this was true, Gidget picked boys on their hair, abs and Quidditch skills. (Is it any wonder about her and Sirius then?). I usually chose boys on their hands, eyes and how they treated their mum (Unless their mum was a total cow) or little kids and oh okay, abs did sweeten the pot as well.

"I don't want to go out with a dork!" Gidget protested, as I got up off her bed and went into the bathroom, and got a wad of toilet tissue, passing it off to her as I climbed back up on her mattress. "Hey!" I protested "If you want a boy to treat you nice, than there is nothing wrong with dating a guy who is a little more academically oriented". Gidget heartily blew her nose and than gave me an incredulous look. "Besides 'dorky' is totally in right now, I read it in Modern Witch" I informed her, lying through my teeth. I never read those rags, but you never know it could have said that.

"Which issue?" Gidget asked suspiciously, her clear blue eyes narrowed as she dabbed at her nose. "Uh, I- I think it was the latest one" I stuttered lamely. Gidget seemed to accept this "I haven't gotten that one yet" she explained. "Ah, well it's great" I lied again. "So geeks are in?" Gidget asked again, still not sounding quite sure. "Oh definitely!" I said sounding more sure than I felt. "You know glasses, and jumpers and being lanky" I added unconvincingly.

I saw Gidget's eyes light up and I saw where this was going. "No, James Potter does _not_ count as a dork" I said cutting her train of thought off. "Oh bugger" she said and then she did something I couldn't believe. She laughed, and her smile changed her whole face; her cheeks flushed and her eyes got bright and her lips looked light and pink and not weighed down by the awful lip gloss she was constantly spreading on. And she looked absolutely stunning.

"You know Gidget" I said as I climbed off hers and went to lie down in Dara's bed. "You should wear less make up" I told her, I meant it as a compliment, and I'm pretty sure that's how she took it. She grinned and said "Thanks, Billee", climbing under her covers again.

I couldn't believe it, I had an actual friendly moment with Gidget Pennyworth, we talked and she listened to what I said, and she didn't even really insult me once. This had to be a world record. I was positively over the moon; I couldn't wait to tell Lily and Dara in the morning.

But than the div had to ruin it by saying "You should wear more". Stupid cow.

No, that's not right. Gidget's still a little materialistic, but after this encounter. Now that I know she has a conscience, maybe we can make her a little more empathetic. It's not impossible you know, I still have two whole years left here to do some good.

--

"Mendara Elizabeth Chang and Lily Marigold Evans" I said crossly to which Lily screeched "Shut it!" Oops I forgot she didn't want anyone to know her middle name. Too late, since I had started this little lecture in the common room where the Marauders were looking on with interest, and James looked positively gleeful. I saw him mouth "Marigold" to himself. "Anyways I'm telling you it happened. I'm not a liar!" I stated, fervently.

"What happened?" James asked with an interested waggle of his eyebrows. "Was it a naughty truth or dare game?" Sirius asked and I fixed him with a glare. "An underclothes only pillow fight?" James guessed and Lily threw her astronomy book at his head. He dodged it however, quick reflexes. Both James and Sirius turned to look expectantly at Remus who was reading a book; he didn't even bother to look but simply muttered "I'm not saying anything". Peter, perhaps trying to compensate for Remus went "A three-way?"

Dara, Lily and I just all chorused "Ew!" My nose was crunched up and Mendara and Lily were glaring at Peter murderously. "Where's my Ancient Runes book?" Lily questioned, looking for ammo. "Too far, Pete" Sirius said with a shake of his head. "Besides" James said as Lily was crouched over looking for her book, while he was staring at her arse (I'm rather surprised he didn't start to drool) "It would have been a four-way, Gidget lives there too, and you know she would want to be in on some of the action".

"Found it!" Lily said cheerily, pulling her book out from under an armchair and promptly biffed it at James. This time he wasn't quick enough however, and the book sailed through the air and gracefully beamed off James' shoulder. "Bloody hell!" he griped, grasping at his broad shoulder, in pain.

"Lily, my dear have you ever considered trying out for beater?" Sirius asked, quirking an eyebrow "incredible aim" he said conversationally to Remus who was still ignoring the lot of them. "No thanks" she said coolly "I'm rather stay away from activities where James can make innuendos constantly about 'brooms' and 'goal hoops'" She added, only looking mildly put-off.

"That can be arranged, my little Marigold" James said, licking his bottom lip in something he had probably hoped would be a seductive matter.

"Oh that bloody well does it" Lily said about to charge at him, but me and Dara managed to get her by the arms, to which she struggled against us for a while until Dara was able to sedate her with the promise of a detention if she were to pulverize him now.

I eased Lily down into an armchair, where she was panting and still shooting James murderous glares, while he was going off on the name Marigold and if they had a daughter he'd quite like to carry on the tradition of flower names, and how did she feel about Chrysanthemum perhaps? This quickly led into James daring Peter to say Chrysanthemum five times fast.

My gaze shifted to Sirius who was currently laughing at Peter, seeing how he could barely make it past the first syllable.

I cleared my throat, which attracted Sirius' attention. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked politely. He smiled, "Sure" and stood followed me outside of the portrait hole. "Do you want to go for a walk outside?" he enquired and I nodded "That'd be nice" I said lamely.

This was how it was between us now. We were polite but distant. Civil not near the point were we would joke around like we used to. Things had gotten awkward, and fast. He opened doors for me, rolled his eyes in divination when James and Lily started at it again, we worked on the dream diary and he laughed at my jokes but there wasn't a single flirtatious undertone in any of our conversations anymore. I didn't think I'd miss it, but I did.

I shook this thought out of my head, it didn't belong there. I had a Boyfriend now. This was something I still wasn't used to. Quinn really was a sweetheart, and a very good kisser and we could joke around, but sometimes he didn't get some of my jokes and when we kissed, his hands usually went automatically to my arse, which got kind of irritating. But that wasn't really fair, I liked eyes and Quinn liked arses, to each their own, I suppose.

The only thing to be heard was our footsteps echoing through the empty hall and the deafening silence that fell between us. I didn't know how to break it amicably. Small talk was never my thing. So I decided just to get to the point. "The thing we were arguing about was Gidget" I saw him raise an eyebrow "Gidget" he repeated, and I heard a bit of incredulity in his voice. He held open the door for me, and we made our way out onto the dewy lawn. The air was cold and when through my thin yellow cardigan almost immediately. I brought up both of my hands and started rubbing my arms subconsciously. "Here" he said and I watched, embarrassed as he whipped off his jumper, he was only wearing a navy blue t-shirt underneath, and my eyes were immediately attracted to his broad shoulders. He gently pulled the warm sweater over my head, and I started giggling as my head got stuck in the neck hole but then he gave another tug and it was fine. The knitted sweater was huge on me, but it was warm and smelled like him.

I'm sorry is that creepy? Well, it did!

"So anyways, Gidget had a bit of a breakdown last night" I said, walking and looking down at my feet. "Oh right" he responded, sounding taken a back. When I stole a glance at him, I saw he was scratching the back of his head and looking straight ahead. "I know I didn't know it was possible either" I teased, and lightly bumped him with my shoulder. He laughed "So you're here to tell me to stay away from her. Uh-oh." He said biting his lip and I furrowed my eyebrows, "Explain" I ordered.

"Well I'm kind of used to this, you know. Heroic best friends of girls I've been fooling around with, come up and tell me to stay away from their friends" He shot a sheepish smile at me. "But I guess it's pretty bad when the girl who comes up to me doesn't even like the girl I've been fooling around with"

"It's not that I don't like Gidg-"I started, a little defensive but he interrupted me right away. "Your not perfect Billee, you're allowed to not like someone. And Gidget told me what it was like being dormies with you lot" he said waggling his eyebrows. "And it's not the soft-core lesbian slumber party James and I would like it to be"

I went to whack him on the arm, but then I lost some momentum and it was like I was just playfully touching his bicep. Awkward. "Oh, I wasn't aware you and Gidget talked" I said jokingly, and he laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder and shoving me lightly.

"But seriously" I said, catching up to his long strides. "I think that when something like this happens" I paused dramatically, the corners of my lips twitching "Then you're legitimately considered a bad-boy" I said, allowing my grin to break out full-force on my lips. He held up his hand for a high-five and I gladly smacked my hand against his.

"I missed this" I said shyly. I wasn't sure if I should be telling him this or not, but it was true so I said it anyways. He smiled, and draped his arm around my shoulders. "Me too, little one" he replied, a teasing edge present in his voice. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a voice that I recognized interrupted him by calling out my name.

I saw Quinn bounding up to us, and Sirius removed his arm from my shoulder, looking apprehensive. "Sweetie, Lily was looking for you" he said, and I blushed at the sentimental pet name. "Hey Sirius" Quinn said with a grin. "Hey man" Sirius responded with a nod. "Okay I guess, I should see what she wants" I said heaving a sigh "I don't know when I became one of Lily's minions though" I muttered and Sirius laughed. Quinn on the other hand went "Billee, come on, Lily's one of your best friends" he chastised.

"Quinn, I was fooling around" I said, sounding irritated. I waved good-bye to Sirius who winked at me in return, and I got the familiar whoosh in the pit of my stomach.

I turned on my heel and started to retrace my steps back up to the castle, and Quinn quickly caught up to me. "What's going on with you two?" he asked suspiciously. "We're just friends, Quinn" I said realizing I said this with a level of disappointment, grabbing his hand, hoping to reassure him and myself. "Ok" he said still sounding hesitant. "Are you coming to the Gryffindor party tonight?" I asked him. "Why can't we go to the Ravenclaw one?" he questioned, seeming still a little put-off. "Because I don't know anyone in Ravenclaw and you know tons of Gryffindors" I lied through my teeth, I knew plenty of Ravenclaws, but I also knew their party would be more like a book club meeting than anything.

"Fine but if it's a bust, can we go to the Ravenclaw one?" he asked and I nodded with a smile "Sure thing, Quinton." But I knew for a fact that in no way would the Gryffindor party be a flop.

--

We were now having an impromptu Halloween fashion show. Lily had gotten ready first and Dara and I weren't the least bit surprised when she came out in a simple knee length black dress with the hem ripped and the bottom of the sleeves we're tattered as well. She was wearing simple black flats, and had a pointy wire brimmed hat sitting on her head. She was a muggle witch. Again. We begged her to at least be a slapper witch but she shook her head adamantly and Dara grabbed a garment bag from her closet and went in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later she came out in a long, silky black robe that fell to her feet, there was a giant slit up the side, and you could see up to her thigh, the front of the robe was very low cut as well and she was wearing the hood up. She had circled her eyes in dark eyeliner, and done her lips in bright red. She giggled twirling around gracefully. "Any guesses?" she prompted gleefully.

"Uhm" Lily said "A zombie skank?" she guessed, wearily and Dara just shook her head grinning. I pondered this for a second and then I got it. "A slutty Dementor!" I cried and Dara shouted "yes!" excitedly.

"Well played, Miss. Chang" I said in awe, rising and grabbing my costume out of my closet. When I was in the bathroom. I slipped on the costume, and stepped into my ankle breaker shoes. I pointed my wand to my hair and muttered a few spells before scooping it up into a bun. I did my make-up quickly, spreading on some mascara and some lip gloss, before conjuring the best part.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Mendara was waiting excitedly and Lily was reading a novel, but when she looked up she even gasped and said "oh fuck" which was very unusual for her to do so. "Miss. Evans would you like a detention?" I asked primly and Dara was killing herself laughing.

I admit I had a stroke of genius this year. I was wearing a tartan mini-dress, a navy blue cardigan over it, I had changed my hair to brown (eyebrows too) just for the evening and put a spell on it so they were springy corkscrew curls, then I had pulled them back into a messy bun, a few tendrils falling in my eyes. Finally I had managed to pinch Annie's reading glasses from home this summer (She never wore them anyways) and I had perched them on the bridge of my nose.

Yes you guessed it; I was a slutty Professor McGonagall.

"Oh god" Mendara said, clutching her side. "You win, you win the whole bloody thing!" she shrieked in delight and I smiled pleased with myself.

--

The party was in full swing; Quinn was busy talking Quidditch tactics with James, Dara and coaxed Lily out onto the dance floor, which left me to sit with Remus and Sirius. Peter went to the Hufflepuff party to be with his girlfriend.

"Your guys' costumes never fail to disappoint me" I said shaking my head, Remus was nursing a bottle of fire whiskey all to himself and was currently fighting off a case of the hiccups. Sirius laughed, he was wearing the same clothes he was earlier today and he said he was a "muggle" the same goes for Remus and James except James claimed he was an "extremely attractive muggle" to each his own.

"What about your boyfriend" Remus slurred and I rolled my eyes. Quinn had come in his Quidditch uniform. That was almost as bad as Lily's costume. "No comment" I said darkly, sipping from my cup of punch. I was tapping my foot to the music, my heels making a thumping sound on the rug.

"Want to dance Minerva?" Sirius asked and I grinned "Sure". Remus giggled, "I bet you thought you'd never say that sentence, Padfoot". I laughed, Remus was a fun drunk to be around. "I'm coming back for you Remus" I warned him, ruffling his hair as I walked by.

Sirius and I danced for a couple of fast songs, and he was respectful and kept his distance which could have been attributed to Quinn staring at us. "I should go check on Remus" Sirius said after a song ended, "I'll be back soon" I nodded, Quinn stumbled over and I could smell the fire whiskey on his breath which was actually kind of nauseating. We were dancing when Sirius came over, Quinn's hands once again situated on my arse. He must have seen the look of pure frustration on my face because he very innocently asked "Hey guys, everything okay?" Quinn just shot him an annoyed look and gave my arse a little pinch. "Yeah we're fine" he slurred his words.

Sirius was obviously having none of it "Are you sure?" he asked, staring at me and then down to my bottom with raised eyebrows. "Yes!" Quinn exclaimed. "Actually" I broke in "Why don't we go sit down?" I suggested to him but he promptly ignored me. "Hey man" Sirius said catching his arm, "why don't you listen to what she has to say" he said calmly.

It was like a horrible, cliché teen novel and I saw it happen in slow motion. Quinn balled up a fist and aimed it at Sirius, the first time he missed out of his pure drunkenness but when Sirius angrily shoved him away he tried again and this time he connected his face.

"Quinn!" I shouted, the common room had got very silent, and I grabbed him by the ear, as he went to throw another punch and practically dragged him from the common room, feeling very much like the actual Professor McGonagall.

--

On the way back from the Ravenclaw common room, where I had deposited a very inebriated Quinn, who had turned the color of a sheet of paper and was apologizing profusely, I heard heels clacking down the corridor. There was no way I could hide. I would just have to explain to whatever teacher it was the circumstances as to why I was out after curfew.

Oh bugger! Oh stupid sodding Quinn. It was McGonagall, staring straight at me with a look of horror on her face. She was wearing the same outfit that I had decided to imitate, except her dress was floor length and her cardigan was buttoned up primly. "Miss. Malone?" she asked incredulously "What on earth are you doing?"

"I erm, I-I had to drop of a friend. They were sick" I said lamely, chewing anxiously on my lower lip.

"Detention" she barked, "But it's barely past curfew!" I stammered "Detention, meet me in my office at 6:30 tomorrow night" and then she had to drop the D bomb. "I'm very disappointed in you Miss. Malone" before turning on her heel and retracing her steps, angrily.

I didn't think the evening could get any worse but then when I re-entered the Common Room, I saw Sirius sitting glumly on an armchair, and Gidget dressed as a mouse, tenderly pressing an icepack to his cheek were a bruise was blooming.

I tried to enjoy the rest of the party, but It was impossible so I dragged myself up to my dorm, and tried to fall asleep.

--

I had put it off as much as possible. But it simply had to be done. I gathered up the sweater off my trunk which I had neatly folded up and walked up a flight of stairs until I was standing in front of the sixth year boy's dormitory. I rapped on the door with my knuckles and it swung open.

I was very relieved that my jaw didn't actually fall to the floor, which was quite a feat. Considering, a shirtless Sirius was standing before me, only dressed in a pair of jeans and was towel drying his hair. I had marveled at Sirius' shoulders and biceps before, but god. That boy should never wear clothing. "Hi Billee" he said, surprisingly pleasantly for someone who got punched in the face because of me. "Good morning" I said trying to copy his pleasantness, but now I felt bad about ogling him and my attention was firmly on his bruised cheek.

"I brought you your sweater" I said, holding it out in front of me. "Oh thanks, Malone" he said, taking it and brushing his fingers against mine. "James' mum knitted it for me" he said with a roughish grin.

"Can I come in for a second?" I asked, politely. "Yeah sure thing" he said opening the door wider, and it was a pigsty, as I had expected. The walls were littered with Quidditch posters and near one bed pictures of beautiful witches were tacked up. "That your bed?" I pointed. A grin played on his lips as he ran his hand through his hair "Actually that's Peter's" I scrunched up my nose "Oh ew" and he laughed, walking into the bathroom, and grabbing a white t-shirt and pulling it over his head, which saddened me significantly.

"I just came to apologize about last night" I called, since he was in a different room now. "You don't need to apologize for him, you know" he said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Yes I do" I said, chewing on my lower lip nervously (A bad habit).

"I quite like it, it makes me look even more bad ass, as you say" he teased, and I smiled shyly. "Okay now that you've said your peace, I'd like my turn" he said and crossed his arms over his enormous chest.

"I want you to know that I'm not giving up" he said suddenly serious.

"Excuse me?" I asked, confused.

"On you, to clarify" he said taking a few steps closer to me and the butterflies in my stomach started to do step aerobics. "I thought I was doing you this big favor and being all noble and all that crap" he said, staring at me intently. "Because I thought you were happy. But I know now that you're miserable and for good reason, Quinn is a total wanker by the way"

I thought I had dislocated my jaw; it was hanging so far down. "What are you talking about?" I asked, touching my hand to my forehead.

"I'm not giving up on you" he repeated. And then he closed the remaining space between us by pulling me into a hug. I was still in a total state of shock and just stood there, he was holding me, one hand around my waist, the other playing with a few of the left over curls that had come loose from my ponytail. And he wasn't touching my arse, that by it's self was enough for me to almost burst into tears.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, it took a while to get the ball rolling on this chapter, but I think parts of it may definitely be my favorite one yet. Please, please, please review!!!!!!

_ok, baby  
what'll it be?  
i asked my friends, and they all agreed  
you're exactly the kind of trouble that i need  
i got songs to give  
i got songs to prove  
songs i use when i wanna' seduce, and i wanna' seduce you  
why won't you let me?_

_i wanna' get you  
so get gotten  
i won't stop til' i get to the bottom  
i wanna' get you_

Ben Lee- Get Gotten.

Chapter 5:

"So did you do it?"

"Not yet" I whispered hurriedly, glancing through the crack in the door. I knew it was strange that people would actually talk in a broom cupboard, but we were. I swear.

"Billee!" He griped, and pounding his fist on the wall, the reverberations making a broom fall feebly to the ground, clattering. I simply shot him a glare, I knew the broom was out of his control, but honestly it was like he wanted us to get caught. I heard footsteps echoing down the hallway and then the div decided to break out into a very moving rendition of the Hogwarts song. I practically jumped on him, knocking him against the cramped wall. I managed to cut him off at 'Hoggy, Hoggy, Hogwarts' by covering my hand over his mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps paused for a moment but then continued on their way.

"Not that this isn't totally erotic, because it is" Sirius spoke up, his breath hot on the palm of my hand, which I hastily removed in case he tried to lick it or something gross like that. "But a broomstick is poking in my back".

"Oh sorry!" I apologized worriedly, backing up, almost tripping over a stray quaffle, "Watch it, Darling" he said, grabbing a hold of my arm and steadying me. "Don't call me darling" I grumped, yanking my arm out of his gentle grip and then lost my balance again, but this time, his reflexes weren't quick enough.

I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from screaming in agitation, now my arse hurt, and then a broom promptly tipped over and whacked me on the top of my head. "Sodding broom" I said crossly, giving the broom in question a very immature a kick. "I hate this" I added, reaching up to tenderly touch the bump that was blooming near the back of my head.

I hadn't noticed but Sirius had crouched down on the floor next to me, he surprised me by cradling my face gently with his hands "I'm not exactly over the moon about it either, Billee" he said with a wry smile, his thumb stroking my cheekbone. "And this is why you have to break up with him, now" he instructed, and I nodded my head while gnawing on my lower lip.

He stood up, and grabbed my hand, pulling me up as well. "Well you'll be happy to know that's exactly what I had been planning on doing, until you pulled me into this sodding cupboard" I said bitingly, pushing all my vulnerability out of the proverbial window. "I am happy to know that" he said in his husky voice and started to lean forward, but I turned my head away, so his lips connected with my ear.

I shyly turned my gaze back to him "I've never cheated on anyone before and I don't want to start now" I explained. He nodded and brushed some of my hair out of my eyes and gently kissed my forehead. "I know" he said surprisingly serious but then I saw a grin work it's way onto his lips and I knew that wouldn't last. "Also I quite like ear kissing, I'll show you the finer points once your single" he said and moved past me and opened the door a crack.

"Coast is clear" he said, opening the door, light spilling into the dark cupboard, showing me just how much mess we had made, a couple broomsticks littered the floor and the quaffle was still rolling about haphazardly. I stumbled out of the closet, my eyes still adjusting to the light.

"So you're doing it?" Sirius asked carefully, shutting the door behind me. "I'm doing it" I said, and although my nervousness about breaking up with Quinn has been the subject of many of our stolen moments over the last week or so, I feel more confident about it than before. I had been true to my procrastinator form and I've been pushing the thought out of my head, but when Sirius yanked the end of my braid and wished me well, I knew I was ready.

We went in opposite directions, something I was thankful for, I didn't want him to be there with me, I didn't want encouragement, and I just wanted to get this over with.

I would have liked to say that I knew where Quinn would be because I was a super attentive and caring girlfriend, but in truth I just overheard his friend Robin tell him to meet her there.

I walked in and was surprised to see Gidget flipping through the pages of a moldy magazine, chewing gum and looking exhausted from the effort of it all. She held up the cover of Modern Witch and gave me a big cheesy grin, which I attempted to return, but I'm sure it came out as a grimace. I was nervous, if I was being honest. I hated break-ups. And I was still trying to work out the mystery of why exactly Gidget was in the library of all places.

Quinn was sitting two tables away, reading a rather thick book intently. "Hey" I said plopping down in the seat next to him. "Erm, can I have a word?" I asked in what I hoped to be an earnest fashion. "Yeah, go ahead" he said absentmindedly, not taking his eyes off the page he was reading.

I lifted the cover of the book, and read the title; "101 Uses for Dragon Dung" fascinating, I'm sure. "Ah, I kind of meant somewhere with a bit of privacy" I said, the knot tightening in the pit of my stomach. Quinn's cheeks colored and he stuffed his book into his bag, and mumbled "of course, of course" a few times. Now Quinn wasn't stupid, mind you. In fact he was quite the opposite. In the short span of our relationship I had already given up on trying to converse with him intelligently. Because it normally ended up in him politely correcting me and giving my knee a little pat. We didn't do much talking, mostly we just snogged. I enjoy a good bit of snogging as the next girl, but I need a bit of banter in the long run. But the point was he wasn't stupid, he was really quite brilliant so I was pretty sure he knew what was happening.

We were just circling the corridor, since it was pouring buckets outside. "Look, Quinn. I really had a fun time wi-"I started but Quinn cut me off. "I get it, Billee" he said with a bit of a soft smile "I just hope this isn't because I was reading about dung, however because that's really not my primary interest" he joked and I found myself grinning in spite of myself. "It's not?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows "Oh well, I guess we don't have as much in common as I thought"

He laughed and stuck out his hand "So… friends?" he asked hesitantly. "Oh put that thing away, you div" I said, and I felt a greater surge of affection for Quinn than I had all through our relationship, so I flung my arms around his neck and I'm sure I squeezed his brains out.

"Well" he said pulling back with a smile "I should probably get back to the dung" he said giving his bag a little pat "Herbology waits for no man". I giggled and ruffled his hair "Well be careful, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself with that much…excitement"

He chuckled, shaking his head ruefully. "See you later, Billee" he said, exiting the corridor, and I watched him go, proud of myself and at peace, I allowed my self to mutter "Bye Quinn" to the empty hallway.

--

"No way was it that easy!" Dara protested, her eyebrows furrowed and the crisp November air making her cheeks flushed. "I'm telling you it was!" I said, ignoring her incredulous expression. We were circling the grounds, the sun sinking low in the sky and we still had a few hours to kill before curfew. "So you didn't even have to say 'It's not you, it's Sirius'" Dara teased, elbowing me in the ribs.

I rolled my eyes at her antics. "I didn't just break up with Quinn for him" I said, irritated. "I'm not _that _girl!" I objected and then stopped dead in my tracks. "Oh bloody hell. I am that girl aren't I!?" Mendara heaved a heavy sigh, grabbing my arm and linking mine with hers as she began to walk once again, pulling me along with her. "No of course not Bill, I was just fooling" she said with one of her infamous crooked smiles. I exhaled loudly, watching my breath puff out in the cold air.

"Girls are going to go about calling me a slag, aren't they?" I asked, tentatively. "Well…yes" Dara said delicately and I smiled, she was never one for beating around the bush. "But you know, it's Sirius Black we're talking about here, unfortunately Bill girls would be slagging you off on the best of circumstances"

This was undeniably true, although there we're only a few who were very vocal on the subject; the majority of girls had a crush on him. It was nothing he did really, truth was he was a bit of a goober, but girls just looked at him and got starry eyed. Being the slightly-cynical girl that I am, I never allowed myself to have a Sirius phase, and instead I often made fun of the girls who did. But then I had to ruin my cynicism by actually getting to know him. And after that little speech he gave me in his dorm room, I had left abruptly, and true to his word he had not given up, whenever I walked by a broom cupboard, I felt an arm snake out and pull me in. He would nag me about Quinn and finally I confessed things weren't working. I hadn't developed feelings for Sirius because of his looks, no I had always pushed that aspect of him out of my head, I realized that I was falling for him because of who he was.

Apparently I have quite a thing for goobers.

My thoughts were interrupted by Mendara pinching my cheek. "Ouch!" I griped, rubbing my flushed face. "Coming back down, Space cadet?" she teased, poking her tongue out at me. "Sorry, what do you want to talk about then?" I enquired, as I watched the giant squid raise a tentacle out of the water, lazily. "My love life" she answered, a sarcastic edge present in her voice. "Oh do you mean Remus?" I asked, with a grin. She shoved me, lightly. "Actually I was referring to my non existent one" she shot back. "Know anyone you could set me up with?" she added hopefully. "I could set you up with Remus" I said gleefully.

"Billee, for the last time there is nothing between Remus and me!" Mendara exclaimed. "Oh yes that's why you two make out at every single Gryffindor party" I said nudging her in the ribs. "And the time before last, I know for a fact neither of you were even drunk!" I said, maybe a little louder than I should have. Her face turned beet red, her eyes focused somewhere over my shoulder. "See you later, Billee" she said brusquely and turned on her heel and walked past me. "Oh come on, Dara don't be cross at m-"I stopped abruptly when I saw the reason for her sudden exit.

"I should have known Remus never shuts up about her" Sirius said thoughtfully. I rolled my eyes "You won't tell him will you?" I asked, furrowing my brow. "Of course, I'm going to tell him. Right after we eat brownie mix and braid each other's hair" He said, a smirk etching its way on his perfect lips and his voice was laced with sarcasm.

I snorkeled and reached out to shove him gently but he caught my hand before I could do anything. "So um, I heard some interesting gossip in the halls after dinner" he said with a grin, and he started to stroke my hand with his thumb. It gave me shivers down my spine but I couldn't push the thoughts of mine and Dara's earlier conversation out of my head, I was that girl.

So that's why when he leaned in for our first kiss, I jerked back. He released my hand quickly and looked at me with narrowed, suspicious eyes. "Billee?" he asked confused. "I'm just afraid that people will get the wrong idea if we go public this soon" I said quickly, rushing my words together, as if I said it fast enough he wouldn't be angry, but I knew he would be.

"Oh" he said with a bitter smile, brushing his hair out of his eyes "I get it, you don't want my horrible reputation to affect your own" he said, his eyes flashing with anger. "Sirius, that's not it. You know it's not" I interjected, my voice soft and low.

He ignored me and continued on with tangent "Contrary to the gossip that is spread around the school, I'm not like that" he said his voice rising. "I thought you would already know that". I heaved a sigh "That's not even what this is about Sirius. If you would just hear me out" I begged.

"No, I'm done doing that because I know you're just making excuses" He said, shaking his head. "Why would I be making excuses?" I asked meekly. "Because you're scared of this" he answered straight away, he was staring straight into my eyes, and I had to look away. "I'm not" I said definitely, crossing my arms over my chest. "You are, Billee" he informed me, and I didn't hear anger or frustration in his voice anymore, just disappointment. "And I'm getting really sick of waiting around for you" was the last thing he said before he turned and walked away.

--

"Why are you even here?" I heard Lily hiss, crossing her arms over her nightgown clad chest. "Well it wasn't to see you in your adorable pajamas, I suppose that's just a bonus" I heard James Potter say, and just by craning my head I saw him leaning against the doorframe. "Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't slam the door in your face right now" Lily said with the classic-lily eye roll.

"Sirius is brooding" he informed her.

"Billee's wallowing" Lily added, lowering her voice considerably.

"Okay, but Sirius is in full on brood-mode and it's not pretty. He knocked my trunk over like the hulk!" James exclaimed. I winced just at hearing his name, but sat up a little straighter.

"You think that's not pretty, she's on her second carton of ice-cream" Lily whispered conspiratorially.

"I can hear you both perfectly you know!" I shouted, angrily stuffing my spoon in my mouth. "Uh-oh, you woke the beast" Dara quipped from her place on the bed, where she was working on an essay.

Okay, maybe I was sort of a mess. Yes my face was red and blotchy, my hair pulled back in horrendous pigtails, I had a carton of ice cream balanced on my stomach (which I had berated Mendara into getting for me from the kitchens since I refused to leave my room) crumpled tissues surrounded me and the perimeter around my bed, I had been flipping through old family albums, rubbing my fingers over my father's face, the laughing one I recognized from before the accident, while Lily and Dara had looked on in quiet sympathy. I had then taken a pity nap and woke up to find James Potter standing outside our dorm room. The cuckoo clock situated against the opposite wall told me it was nearly ten-thirty.

"Oh hello Sunshine" James said poking his head around the door. I only emitted a groan as I biffed my spoon at his head, but my lack of genuine athletic ability caused it to only bounce of the wall and feebly fall on the floor.

I heard the bathroom door open, and Gidget walked out, looking absolutely gorgeous and successfully made me feel like some kind of deformed lobster wearing a bad wig, when I caught a glimpse of myself in her compact mirror. "Hot date?" Mendara asked absently, jotting something down on her parchment.

"Actually yeah" Gidget said with a wide smile, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I think you'd like him Billee, he's nice" she said turning to face me. "Men are the scum of the earth" I grumbled, looking longingly at my melting ice cream, wishing I hadn't thrown my spoon across the room in a moment of aggression.

"I'll take that as my cue to leave" James piped up, his eyes wide with terror. "Yeah go, and tell your div friend that, I'm just fine without him. I'm fine, fine fine" I proclaimed, my voice sounding overly loud in my own ears. And then to punctuate this statement I tried to laugh, but it came out sounding maniacal and totally insane.

"Lily, are you sure it's safe to sleep here tonight. She doesn't seem quite right" James whispered concernedly to which I just huffily sunk back into my bed. "She's fine" Lily said dismissively "Just heartbroken" she added as an afterthought. Dara glanced over at me at these words, and I didn't even try to locate an unused tissue at this point. The tears tumbled down my flushed cheek and down my pursed lips as I was struggling not to make any noise. I got a taste of one and it tasted better than my half-melted ice cream.

"Oh Bill" Dara said softly, abandoning her essay as she moved over to my bed. I let her ease me down so my head was in her lap and soon I felt her working her long fingers through my pigtails, easing out the tangles. I finally gave up my somewhat valiant effort to hold the tears in and a fresh sob escaped. I squeezed my eyes shut, embarrassed that James Potter and Gidget were seeing my little breakdown, a few minutes later I heard the door gently click shut and when I opened my blurry eyes I saw that Lily and Gidget had joined us on my bed.

"Billee, I really need to go" Gidget said brusquely "But I just thought that you should know that when Sirius and I were dating, you were all he practically ever talked about" she said with a small smile, before giving my knee a gentle pat, checking her reflection in the mirror one last time and heading out the door.

"Oh I've really fucked this up" I muttered, breathing raggedly as I watched Lily cleaning all my disgusting tissues into the trash bin. "You can fix it, Billee" she said comfortingly. "I don't think it'll be that easy" I said taking a deep breath, trying to keep my composure. "You guys didn't see his face" before giving into my tears. Dara helped get me under the covers and soothingly rubbed circles into my back into I eventually cried myself to sleep.

--

"Billee!" Dara screeched, bursting into the room. "Come down to the Great Hall now" she demanded and Lily entered the room, looking just as breathless as Mendara. "You need to see something" Lily added, her voice sounded frantic. I heaved a tiny sigh, looking up from one of Gidget's copies of Modern Witch. "Guys, I told you I was skiving off classes today please don't try and trick me into getting up".

"No, no, no" Mendara said snatching the magazine out of my hands, as Lily ripped back the covers and grabbed onto my elbow, pulling me up from my save haven. "Billee, if you still want to stay in bed after you see this, it's your choice" she said, grabbing a set of my robes and pulling them over my pajama's with tiny hamburgers printed all over them. I felt Dara tug out my pigtails and comb her fingers through my hair just for good measure. They then promptly pulled me out of my room, barefoot, bewildered and just a tad bitchy. "If this is just like a Marauder prank, I'll kill you guys" I muttered crossly. It felt as though Lily was going to dislocate my shoulder from dragging me around so hard. And on the way down I got my foot stuck in a trick step and Dara pulled me out so hard I felt like I was breaking. "Oh you won't be sorry, believe me" Dara cackled. My feet were making little padding noises on the cold stone tile, and as we reached the great hall. I squared my shoulders, preparing myself for whatever the sight I was supposed to see was.

But no amount of shoulder squaring could ever prepare me for what I actually saw. I sucked in my breath as I saw Gidget and Quinn sitting close together at the Ravenclaw table; he was in the midst of feeding her a piece of toast. "Merlin!" was all I was able to say, as I watched dumbstruck as she dabbed a spot of marmalade on his nose, to which they must have found infinitely amusing because the pair of them were giggling like schoolchildren. I felt both Lily and Mendara watching me, gauging my reaction.

Here I was, feeling guilty about dumping my boyfriend and then he goes ahead and shacks up with my roommate. I mean strangely enough I wasn't even angry, just surprisingly relieved. As soon as I felt the peaceful feeling wash over me, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

So I marched over to the Gryffindor table, feeling bold in my bare feet, my barely covered hamburger pajamas, locating him immediately, god I could recognize those shoulders anywhere. I tapped him on the shoulder in question and when Sirius turned around I almost lost my nerve, but instead I tenderly placed my hand on his cheek and leaned in and kissed him chastely. When I pulled away, my eyes were searching his for any sign that he may have decided to not loathe my being. But I guess when his surprisingly soft lips covered mine, which was all I really needed to know.

Someone started cheering, most likely James and when he broke it off he just grinned at me, tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and then I remembered I was standing in the middle of the great hall in my possibly most embarrassing pair of pajamas, and that's when I planted a quick kiss on his lips and then ran as fast as I could from the Hall, not daring to look back.

Although my efforts to protect my fashionable reputation were ruined when I promptly got my foot stuck in the trick step yet again and had to wait for classes to begin for the great hall to empty for someone to find me in my sad little pair of pajamas and rescue me.

Still… it was a pretty good day.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So sorry that it's been forever since I've last updated but It's been a crazy couple of months and it took me awhile to get this chapter how I wanted. I hope you haven't completely forgotten about me and this story though. Thank you of course to all of the reviewers, you guys are great and make my day. Enjoy this newest chapter!

_Our friends would all make fun of us  
and we'll just laugh along because we know  
That none of them have felt this way _

_Hey there Delilah – Plain White T's. _

Chapter 6

"Merlin, are you two nearly ready?" I called, impatiently, staring at my reflection in Gidget's full length mirror. I had taken extra time on my appearance this morning. My hair looked shiny, and I had just left it alone, instead of pulling it back or clipping it up, for once. I had on my favorite navy jumper, which I zippered down a little lower today and my least ratty pair of cords.

"Fuck, Malone" I heard Dara exclaim, as she stumbled out of the bathroom door. "You woke us up, at nine o'clock on a Saturday and you've been nagging us ever since" Dara had on a pair of faded out jeans, a grey t-shirt that was too short for her with a hole at the collar and her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. "What's the special occasion?" she eyed me wearily.

"No reason" I lied, sucking my cheeks, while still staring at myself in the mirror. "You have toothpaste on your chin" I informed her, tossing my hair over my shoulder. "Like I give a flying fuck" she moaned, collapsing on her bed.

"You're awfully vulgar this morning" I quirked an eyebrow. "What's up?" I asked, tearing myself away from the mirror and flopping down next to her. She glanced up at me wearily. "Normally you wouldn't be out of bed until noon, and you don't normally dress half-way presentable on the weekends" Dara said meekly, propping her chin up with her hand. "I just don't want you to change because of Sirius" she added, carefully.

"Mendara Elizabeth" I said, exhaling a big breath. "I'm not changing. We've only been dating for less than a bleeding week!" and I saw her break into a rueful smile. "This is the first time he's seen me, in something else than my robes since the hamburger pajamas incident an-" I rolled into a tangent, but got drown out by Mendara's giggles. (Yes, she would laugh any time it was brought up, and James was still calling me the hamburgler)

"Promise?" Dara asked, extending her pinkie, a genuine grin gracing her lips. "Promise" I repeated, linking my stubby finger with hers, our Kodak moment was ruined, by Lily emerging from the bathroom in sweatpants and lopsided pigtails and a surly disposition. "I'm bleeding starving" she said, shoving her socked feet into an ancient pair of trainers. "Why are you two so happy?" she snapped.

--

I heaved, what must have been my millionth sigh, and poked my scrambled eggs listlessly. "Billee, honestly" Dara said wearily "You can't expect a sixteen year old boy to be up before ten on a weekend" she chided lightly as she took a bite out of her toast.

"Yeah you look like your owl died" Lily said with an amused smile as she sipped from her glass of pumpkin juice. "My owl did die!" I exclaimed, widening in eyes in disbelief. "I cannot believe you'd be so insensitive to bring that up".

"Bill, Horace died in fourth year" Dara said with a chuckle. "Still" I scowled, petulantly. "Who was Horace?" I heard James ask, as he slid in across from me, next to Lily. "Billee's dead owl" Lily said conversationally. I pouted giving my eggs a particularly sharp jab. I felt someone's hands come to rest on my shoulders, and I felt a slow smile stretch across my lips.

"You guys aren't teasing my little buttercup are you?" Sirius said sliding into the empty spot next to me, as Remus followed suit. "Morning, lovely" he said, planting a kiss on my blushing cheek as I mumbled good morning in return.

"Oh how perfectly nauseating" Dara grumbled, dropping her half-eaten piece of toast on her plate. "Oi, Mendara" Remus said, leaning across the table, much to Dara's alarmed look. "You've got something on your chin" he said wiping away the dried toothpaste with his thumb, while Dara promptly turned pink. I remained silent, but chose to wink at Dara when Remus resumed his seat; his cheeks were a similar shade as hers.

"So what are everyone's plans for the day?" Sirius asked abruptly, pinching a piece of bacon off of my own plate. "Staying as far away from you two" James said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to lose your lunch and supper as well as our breakfast" Lily said in agreement. James looked shocked that Lily would have a similar opinion.

"Perhaps we ought to give them a show now, Billee" Sirius announced, a familiar smirk making its way onto his lips. I shook my head, knowingly "You and your public displays of affection, shameless" I teased. "That's me, Darling" he said, grabbing my shoulders and planting smacking kisses all over my face as I giggled uncontrollably, failing to push him away. When I wiped off my face, I saw that Mendara and Remus were half way out of the great hall, presumably off to the library. Lily had her face buried in James' shoulder. "Oh are they finished yet?" she asked meekly, and James looked like he was going to faint any second at the nearness of his long-time object of affection.

"Deep breaths, Mate" Sirius advised as Lily tentatively lifted up her head, shooting death glares as Sirius and I. "I need to get out of here, you" she said pointing at me "and you!" she added, glaring at Sirius "are way too vomit-inducingly cute" she said standing up, from her seat. "Potter, want to come?" she asked, carefully. James leaped up from his chair so fast that he nearly sent it toppling over. "Milady" he said, extending an arm, to which Lily eyed hesitantly, eyeing it with a mixture of displeasure and amusement. "Okay!" James said retracting it "We'll get there, my flower" ushering her away from the table in great haste, before she could realize her mistake and change her mind.

I glanced at Sirius with a soft smile, as he slung an arm around the back of my chair, pinching another piece of bacon. Before breaking out in a grin and announcing what both of us already knew, and what we had been hoping for "Alone at last, my little buttercup".

--

Somehow we had ended up on the grounds, the early December sky was gray and overcast, stretching on forever, and snowflakes were lazily drifting down, avoiding my tongue with persistent determination. Sirius was watching on as I did some sort of strange jig, trying to get at least one miniscule snowflake on my tongue, in what I hoped was fond amusement. But I'm sure it was just the regular kind.

He had promptly nicked my pink ski hat as soon as we had stepped outside, and it was now sitting, at home on his head at a jaunty angle. We had subconsciously made our way over to the stone wall. The place of one of our first encounters. I launched myself up on the ledge, and with me sitting and him standing we were nearly the same height. An advantage I had never had before.

"Look, at you" he said with a wide smile "At a normal height" he added, teasingly. "Shut it!" I said, flailing my legs in his direction, almost connecting with his leg but he jumped back. "Feisty" he said with a smirk. "But that's what I like about you, Billee" he informed me, stepping forward again. "Oh, so that's what you like about me" I said jokingly, resting my hands on his broad shoulders. He smiled, and leaned in kissing me softly. His mouth was hot against my own, and I was grateful for some warmth. Normally I would have stolen my hat back but he just looked too adorable wearing it, so my ears would have to pay the price. "Yes, amongst other things" He answered with a soft smile, that I was beginning to realize was reserved for me, as he brushed a few stray strands of hair out of my eyes.

"Oh do carry on" I said rubbing my hands against the material of his jacket. "I so love hearing my virtues" I added, jokingly. "You know, your starting to remind me of my ex-girlfriend" he replied, trying his best to look innocent, but the effect of it was lost on me. "I seem to recall your previous girlfriend wasn't able to manage three syllable words" I responded only somewhat bitterly. "Jealous?" he asked with a smirk. "Always" I pouted, trying to conceal a smile. "Don't worry, Malone" he said taking one of my hands off his shoulder, intertwining our fingers together. "You're the only girl for me" he added with a cheesy grin and to punctuate this he tenderly kissed my hand.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Sirius Black" I lectured in a matronly tone "Exactly how many poor girls have you fed that very same line?" I asked incredulously. He grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "A few" he said, shaking some hair out of his eyes. "But I mean it this time" he said. "Well good" I said with a smile, kissing the bridge of his nose.

"Oh look, a Bloodtraitor and a mudblood sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g" I heard a deep voice recite. When I whipped my head around to see just who this talented poet was, I couldn't help but suck in my breath.

Of course I had seen Regulus Black around the school before, it was hard not to. He along with the newly graduated Lucius Malfoy, Evan Rosier and Rudolphus Lestrange were Syltherin's answer to the Marauders, only they focused less on pranks and more on bullying students.

Regulus looked quite a bit like his older brother; he was a tad bit shorter than Sirius, was more wiry and lanky than muscular and kept his hair neatly trimmed. But the shape of their face, jaw line and cheekbones were identical. And what distressed me more than that was the fact that they both shared the same bright blue eyes.

"Hey Reggie!" Sirius exclaimed, his voice laden with sarcasm. "I guess you would be familiar with kissing, I'm surprised your lips aren't puckered from kissing our dear mummy's arse" He shot back as I climbed down from the ledge watching the exchange quietly.

"This one looks a little young, big brother" Regulus said his eyes sweeping up and down me critically, a sneer evident on his lips. "Could you be running out of mudbloods to screw?" he asked with mock horror. "How would you get your attention fix then?"

This kid was pissing me off, more so than the Slytherins usually did. Maybe it was the striking resemblance to my boyfriend, but every acid dripping word out of his mouth was only lending to the anger building up inside. Sirius moved to stand protectively in front of me, his mouth half open to retort something witty I'm sure, but I beat him to the punch. "Maybe he could torment some first years, I'm sure you could show him the ropes" I responded, stepping out from behind Sirius to stand next to him once again.

"Did I ask you to talk mudblood?" He enquired through gritted teeth. Sirius shot me a look, as to say 'I can handle it' but that little comment had struck a last nerve. "Listen here, you little twat" I spat "I don't recall asking you to come over here and interrupt us with your failed intimidation, so you can just get back to what you were doing before. I'm sure Snape's sponge bath can't possibly wait any longer" I finished my tangent, my cheeks flushed and brow furrowed.

"You just wait until Mother hears about this" Regulus said, ignoring me once again, focusing his venomous gaze on Sirius instead. "Can't hardly wait" He responded with bitter smile. "Come on" he said, taking my hand and I gave it a little squeeze as I let him lead me away from his little brother, who I'm sure ten to one, was glaring at the back of our heads.

I glanced up at him warily and was surprised to find him smiling down at me, looking quite amused. "What?" I asked suspiciously, and he just gave my hand a little squeeze breaking into a full fledged grin. "Little Billee Malone, I can assure you that you are in fact the only girl for me" he said, letting go of my hand and instead wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Wait, you're happy that I can't stand your brother?" I asked incredulously. "No, happy is the wrong word" he corrected me, as I leaned into him while we continued to make our way towards the castle. "Thrilled would probably be a more suitable one" he said, and I knew that he was grinning. "And also a little turned on" he added, and I giggled as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Your always a little turned on" I teased and I heard him laugh, his throaty laugh. "At least when it comes to you, my little juicy hamburger". I rolled my eyes and heaved a humungous sigh. "When is that going to get old to you people?" I cried.

"Never" he answered "Come on I'll race you!" he declared, starting to run up the steep hill. "Not fair, you have longer legs!" I whined, but took off anyways. I was choosing to forget about disapproving siblings and irritating pet names, and just decided to focus on the moment.

Because it felt like nothing would be more perfect ever again.

--

"Do it Padfoot!" James encouraged loudly. "Sirius Orion Black, do not do it!" I lectured, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's not funny you guys" I whined, as my friends as well as his egged him. He studied both groups, the first consisting of James, Remus, Peter, Dara and Lily chanting "Do it, do it!" and then the second, consisting of poor little me, complaining "Sirius! So help me god!"

Over the past few days of dating me he had developed something called the Silly Billee, which just consisted of him sneaking up behind me picking me up in a bear hug, and swinging me around so my limbs swayed to and fro. I dunno it must have been comical because the Silly Billee became quite a crowd favorite; meanwhile it just managed to both piss me off and give me a mild case of nausea.

I saw a grin flit across his lips before he said "Sorry darling" before slipping his arms under my armpits and lifting me straight up into the air, my back pressed hard against his chest. And then the shaking started. I surveyed the group of divs that somehow I had become friends with, as they rolled on the floor laughing.

"Shh, best part, best part!" Remus shouted over the laughing voices as Sirius gently set my feet back on solid ground. I shot him a glare and tried my hardest not to, but the sudden change from being shaken and then abruptly back to stillness was simply too much. I couldn't help but stumble slightly. This only sent my audience into hysterics once again.

I only scowled, flopping back into the armchair that Sirius and I had been previously sharing. When he came to reclaim his spot next to mine, I only arched an eyebrow. My boyfriend was a lot of things but he wasn't daft, so he changed directions and promptly plopped down on James' lap with a casual greeting of "Hello there, big boy".

I tried not to giggle as James ran a hand over Sirius' chest, seductively. I watched as Lily rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Oi, you lot get a room" Remus instructed, with a look of good-natured humor. "Well we do share a room" James said thoughtfully, lifting a hand to stroke his chin. "No worries, Remus mate. We'll let you join in"

Dara snorted "And they think we have the porno dorm!" she exclaimed. "Honestly" Lily agreed "I mean we have one little pillow fight in our skivvies and…" she trailed off with a mischievous smile. "W-wha-wha" James stuttered his eyes wide, "Can you repeat that please?" he asked, his voice cracking as he managed to get a hold of his words.

"Don't do it" Remus warned, studying James bewildered face with a smile "He looks like his head's about to pop off"

"It's just the nearness of Sirius" James deadpanned, his eyes focused on Lily, who was staring back, a soft smile playing on her lips and her cheeks rosy. This was not lost on me or Dara who exchanged incredulous looks. Remus' response was to clear this throat, and Lily's eyes darted away from James' like a flash, her face reddening. "Uh, Lily I think it's time we patrol" Remus reminded her gently.

"Oh of course" Lily said standing up, from her place on the floor next to Dara and brushing off her robes brusquely. "Good night, everyone" she said looking from me to Dara and then Sirius, and then ever so slightly lingering on James for a brief moment, before she seemed to catch herself doing this.

"Night" I echoed, as the others in the common room bid them good night as they made their exit. As soon as the sound of the portrait hole shutting was heard, James leapt out of his chair, sending Sirius tumbling to the floor. He then proceeded throw his hands over his head, and start shimmying frantically while singing "Lily thinks I'm sexy!" in a high falsetto over and over again.

"Yeah…" Mendara said, rising from her place on the floor. "When James starts doing the happy dance, it's my bed time" she said, hurrying up the steps before he could try and persuade her into joining in with him.

"I take it that's my cue as well" James said, heading towards the opposite staircase. "No, James you don't have to go" I called up to him. This was the second time today, our friends had not so subtly left so we could be alone. "No, it's quite alright, I'll expect the same sort pf privacy for when Lily and I hook-up" he said confidently, continuing is way up the steps and out of sight.

I glanced over at Sirius rubbing his elbow with a scowl evident on his features. "What's got your knickers in a twist?" I teased quirking an eyebrow. "In James' excitement, I bashed my elbow on the floor" He said moodily, as he tenderly massaged it. "It really smarts" he added "Wanna come kiss it better?" his scowl turned into a full-fledged smirk, as he extended his elbow.

I tried to fight away my impending smile, but like so many times with him, I just couldn't contain it. So instead I wiggled my index finger, signaling for him to come closer. He grinned, genuinely pleased with himself. He scooted across the floor on his arse until he was perching directly below my armchair. He held out his elbow and I chastely pecked the spot where a bruise was sure enough blooming.

"Better?" I asked, my voice laced with weary sarcasm. But he just ignored it. I was prepared for any flirtatious or teasing remark, but not for the way he was looking at me in the firelight. "Yeah, much better" he managed to mumble out before my lips came crashing down on his, surprising him as well, and myself I suppose since I knocked myself out of my own chair in my fit of passion, and rather unceremoniously landed on him, sending him toppling him to the ground, and leaving him grimacing and clutching his sore elbow.

"Oh! Sweetie I'm sorry!" I cooed apologetically, but he just grinned his white beaming smile at me. "Did you just call me Sweetie?" was his incredulous expression. I blushed furiously and clamped my hands over my mouth. "Oh bullocks. Did not mean to say that out loud" I said, squeezing my eyes shut. "So what you think of me as a Sweetie?" he asked the teasing voice but when I warily opened my eyes I saw he was looking at me with soft eyes. "Sometimes" I mumbled, my fingers splayed over my lips muffled the sound. "What was that?" he asked cheekily and I rolled my eyes dropping my hands onto my lap.

"I said, Somet-"I started but was cut off by his lips over mine and I smiled as he cradled my head with his big hands and kissed me lightly. When the kiss broke off he looked at me with a victorious smirk. "Very sneaky Mister" I chided. His smirk grew considerably "Am I really dating an eighty year old woman?" he teased, and then to punctuate his point sometimes smushed my cheeks together. "I think this proves that I look like an obese chipmunk" I mumbled, the cheek pinching was affecting my ability to talk properly. "Ah, but a very cute obese chipmunk" He said fondly, releasing his death grip on my cheeks.

I flopped down on the floor, and rested my head on my arms. "I should go to bed" I said, a yawn interrupting my sentence. He smiled, lying beside me, tracing a finger along my jaw line. "Then go to bed" he advised. I smiled, closing my eyes and said "Come with me". "The staircase" he reminded me. "Oh yeah" I said keeping my eyes shut, "We'll just have to cuddle here then" I said opening my eyes briefly and saw him grab a throw off the back of a chair and taking his spot next to me once again, before draping the blanket over us. I squirmed closer to him, and rested my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around my tightly. It felt nice to be so close to someone and I let the rise and fall of his chest, slow and steady lull me to sleep.

--

I woke up to a crick in my neck, and I saw that Sirius was still awake, staring up at the ceiling; I sat up stretching my arms up over my head. "How long was I out for?" I asked, stifling another yawn. "Only about twenty minutes" he responded. I nodded, running my hands through my hair, only noticing now that he seemed to be in deep thought. "Hey Bill, how come you never talk about your family?" he asked softly. I was caught off guard. I froze my hands still in my hair. "Things are complicated" I said finally.

"Yeah but that's true for most families" he insisted. I felt myself start to get angry. No one in school except Lily and Dara knew about my dad and I felt due to keep it a secret. And Sirius' sudden prying was making me panic. "It's none of your business okay" I said my voice sounding stronger than I felt, I was glad the anxiety wasn't showing in my voice. "Not all of us want to talk about how fucked up our families are, like you" I said standing up, throwing the blanket off me. "So piss off and good night" I added before storming up the stairs to my dormitory and only then, after I changed out of my pajamas and crawled under the covers, did I allow my self to shake.

--

I felt like shit. Not just on the outside, but I was sure I was the biggest shittiest person on the planet when I woke up the next morning. Not only had I gotten about two hours of sleep, but I had just replayed the whole scenario in my head last night. Around four o'clock in the morning I got physically sick, dry heaving into the toilet for so long that when I finally vomited, it felt like a relief. The realization that I might lose Sirius over something to trivial, as my pride or a family secret that wasn't even that tawdry, made me start for his dorm a total of six times collectively over the night. But each time I was too chicken. Or chickenshit rather.

So when a concerned Dara woke up, telling me it was time for classes, I whipped my clothes off, changed into robes at a light speed rate, combed my fingers through my knotty hair, hurriedly. I raced down the steps and was face to face with a somber looking Sirius. "Billee" he started but I threw myself in his arms. "Okay" he said sounding confused, and I felt his arms come hesitantly around me. "I'm sorry, Sirius!" I rushed out "I was a first class prat, last night. I said awful things, and I'm so mortified I told you to piss off. Please, please, please forgive me" I begged, my eyes filling with tears.

"Oh course Billee" he said pulling away, looking concerned at the tears spilling out from my eyes now. "I was just coming to apologize myself" he said wiping away my happy tears with his sleeve. "If you don't want to talk about it then-" he started but I interrupted him. "No! I do want to talk about it with you" I rushed to say, a happy smile gracing my lips now. "Better yet, I want you to meet them" I thought of suddenly. "Come home with me for winter break?" I asked going out on a limb. "Are you sure?" he asked and I could see him fighting a smile. "Absolutely positive" I answered. "Then yes I would love to" he answered formally. "Good" I said wiping away a stray tear and pulled on his tie, kissing him passionately.

"Those two are crazy" James observed from across the common room.

"No, they're in love" Lily said somewhat wistfully.


End file.
